“Choose France”: the Versailles investment fest that managed to soak up 13 billion euros

The most impressive among the announced foreign-funded projects is a battery gigafactory in Dunkirk

President Emmanuel Macron played host to the 6^th edition of the “Choose France” international business summit in Versailles, a flagship event which was started by him in 2018 with the aim to make his country a premier destination not just for tourists but also for investors.

It seems that this year, the event has been especially fruitful as 200 business leaders from all over the world have made commitments to projects for a total worth of 13 billion euros. The French President, who is a former investment banker, is known for wanting to boost French and European economies along sustainable lines in a bid to make them more competitive vis-à-vis USA and China.

In that context, many of the announced investment projects can be classified as directly contributing to the “green” economy. The most impressive among the announced initiatives is the creation of a new-generation battery gigafactory in Dunkirk, which would be the second such in that city. The facility, which will be built by ProLogium (Taiwan), to the tune of 5.2 billion euros, will bring about 2,000 new jobs to the region.

In the same city, the Chinese XTC will build with the French Orano a component and battery recycling plant for 1.5 billion euros.

France is also courting Elon Musk

Speaking of gigafactories (which are all the rage in the new economic development parlance), the French government is also trying to woo in no other than tech giant Tesla’s owner and second richest man in the world, Elon Musk. The billionaire met with President Macron and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire to discuss plans for investments.

No concrete plans have been declared on either side from these meetings, however, the media have reported that Le Maire has offered new tax credits to Musk in return for investments in green technology enterprises.

France so far expects a total of 28 investment projects from companies ranging from U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to Swedish furniture maker IKEA and investment bank Morgan Stanley. In total, the projects are expected to create 8,000 jobs.