“We are the only country in the European Union that shares a border with you: French Guiana!”
These were the words chosen by the IFA’s Managing Director, Serge Boscher, to open his speech to Brazilian investors gathered at the Hôtel Bristol in central Paris on December 14, 2010. Jointly organized with the Brazil Chamber of Commerce in France and under the distinguished patronage of Brazil’s Ambassador to France José Mauricio Bustani, this meeting of the “Brazilian Investors Club” in France was attended by some 50 experts and decision-makers from the two countries. The event was an opportunity to unveil France’s latest advances in labor law, taxation and mobility for foreign executives.
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“After obtaining a visa and registering with the French Company Register, I finally got my hands on my ‘Skills and Expertise’ residence permit… but it was a bit of an obstacle course for me to become legal in France,” admits Li Ruizhi, CEO of CITS (China International Travel Service), which has been in Paris since 1992 and currently employs seven people. Despite a few “small hitches”, the IFA and its partners (Atout France, the French tourism promotion agency and the OFII, the French Office for Immigration and Integration) did everything in their power to ensure that she didn’t wait any longer than necessary for her “Skills and Expertise” residence permit which she herself describes as a “real door opener”. This new three-year renewable residence permit is just one of the latest incentives France is offering to foreign nationals coming to work in the country.
In France, Disney combines investment and regional development
Posted by Invest in France Agency in Country focus; November 18, 2010
Wheat fields gave way to a princess’s castle, gigantic teacups and mountains as grand as the Sierra Madres. Hoards of children in costumes and Mickey and Minnie characters now play where farmers of another era once sowed their seeds.
Twenty years ago, the commune of Chessy could not have dreamed that it would one day become home to Europe’s most popular tourist destination, which has welcomed 215 million visitors since opening: Disneyland Paris.
Since the early 1990s, the population of this town 15 miles from Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département has quadrupled, soaring from 5,000 to 21,000 inhabitants, while the area surrounding Chessy, the entire eastern portion of the Ile-de-France region, has been booming since Disney arrived on the scene in 1992.
The Chinese president’s trip to France ended successfully on Saturday, November 6 with the conclusion, in just 48 hours, of contracts totaling around €15 billion. Hu Jintao’s visit, coming a few days before France assumed the presidency of the G20, was an important opportunity to strengthen economic relations between the two countries, particularly as France, which hosted 8% of all Chinese investment projects in 2009, is currently only the fourth largest recipient of Chinese investment in Europe after Germany, the United Kingdom and Russia.
IKEA and France: Success in easy steps
Posted by Invest in France Agency in Country focus; October 29, 2010
In 1981, a peculiar blue box opened its doors in the Bobigny shopping center just outside Paris. It’s hard to believe that back then those four giant yellow letters I-K-E-A meant nothing to the motorists stuck in traffic passing by. Thirty years later the Swedish company has become such a leading name, a must-have even, in the world of furniture and interior design.
Its success can be measured in numbers: there are over 9,000 employees working for IKEA in France, most of them in the 28 blue and yellow stores that attract 51 million people every year. The two most recent outlets opened this year in Avignon and Thillois, just outside Reims, creating 350 and 300 jobs respectively.
After more than 300 years, trade relations between France and Russia continue to strengthen. During her trip to Moscow for the “Russia Calling!” investment forum, Christine Lagarde was invited on October 7, 2010 to appear on Russian TV station Vesti24.
The French Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment emphasized France’s resilience during the global economic crisis. “The economic stimulus measures we have taken are working well,” she explained, stating that “figures are expected to improve further in 2010.” The Minister plans to build on three foundations to boost growth and development: research and innovation, education and career training, and private investment, specifically from foreign companies. On this note, Christine Lagarde pointed out to Vesti24’s viewers that while “France is investing a lot in Russia, Russian companies are just as welcome in France”. The 20 Russian companies with businesses in France and the 3,000 jobs they have created are a good sign they are already listening.
France is a source of inspiration for the cosmetics industry, with leading firms like L’Oréal and more recently Natura from Brazil. And it is this gift which frequently drives major trends in fashion and luxury products onto the radar of key industry players worldwide.
Japanese firm Shiseido is no exception: “Paris has fueled the Shiseido culture,” confides Shinzo Maeda, CEO of the group. The Japanese giant is celebrating 30 years in the French market by holding a contemporary art exhibit in Paris. Theirs is a success story that has unfolded one step at a time.
The IFA visits Natura in São Paulo
Posted by Invest in France Agency in Country focus; September 3, 2010
Photo credit: Fabio Chieppe
On the occasion of David Appia’s visit to Brazil, the IFA went to Cajamar, near São Paulo, to visit the facilities at Natura, one of the success stories showcased in the IFA “France. Expect More” communication campaign.
Natura is symbolic of a new wave of Brazilian companies that are going global and venturing outside the country to conquer new markets. This organic cosmetics company chose to set up shop in France, one of the leading world countries in the industry. Paris is now home to the sole laboratory and only Natura store outside Brazil. The investment project also led to new jobs being created: the French team boasted 45 members in 2009. Natura CEO Alexandro Giuseppe Carlucci also praised the superiority of the French workforce, which he considers to be “highly skilled”.
Photo credit: Fabio Chieppe
The first stopover for the series of conferences organized by the IFA and the Getulio Vargas Foundation (GVF) was on August 31 in Rio de Janeiro before a full house of stakeholders in Franco-Brazilian business relations. Some of those gathered included representatives from French and Brazilian companies (Crédit Agricole, Grupo Gol) as well as law firms such as Siqueira Castro.
Among the list of speakers was IFA Chairman and CEO David Appia, who touted the power of France’s innovation clusters and R&D investment opportunities in the country. He also singled out a number of Brazilian companies with successful businesses in France, such as Natura in cosmetics and Embraer in the aerospace sector. GVF professor Renato Flores sees France as a springboard for Brazilian investors looking for a foothold to sell to markets in Europe, Russia and China as well as Eastern Europe. France’s highly developed agricultural research agenda also provides attractive opportunities, notably in agribusiness, where research networks have already been established at the Agropolis campus in Montpellier.
