France continues to attract big investments from the GCC region led by Saudi and the UAE companies who are focusing on chemical industries, plastics and aeronautics, said a report.

The GCC companies invested in 13 major projects last year, thus leading to the creation of 514 jobs for locals, according to The “2013 Report: Job-creating foreign investment in France.”

The report provides an analysis of the source, nature and breakdown of foreign job-creating investments in France, as recorded by the Invest in France Agency (IFA) and its regional partners.  

Saudi Arabia and the UAE remained the leading source country in GCC with eight projects. Other GCC countries too recorded rises, including Qatar and Bahrain, it added.

According to the report, the investment projects from GCC were mainly related to production activities (chemical industry, plastics, aeronautics) and decision centers (primo-implantation).

The structure of investment projects has increased added value with the establishment of two research and development centers.

"We are very pleased to see France break a new record in 2013 for the number of GCC investment decisions, especially in manufacturing activities and R&D operations, which have doubled from 2012 to 2013,"stated Salim Saïfi, chief representative of Invest in France Agency in the Middle East.

"This outstanding result confirms the quality of France’s innovation ecosystem, all thanks to the creativity of France’s talented individuals and the government’s bold policies that are appreciated by foreign investors," he added.

In 2013, job-creating foreign investment maintained its upward trend, with a stronger contribution to employment than in 2012: France attracted 685 new projects, compared with 693 in 2012. These investment decisions enabled 29,631 jobs to be created or retained, up from 25,908 in 2012.

The results were announced by President Hollande in Paris at the recent 'Strategic Attractiveness Council' meeting attended by around 35 foreign business leaders.

The US remained the leading source country, despite the number of investment decisions falling from 156 in 2012 to 122 in 2013, accounting for 18 per cent of all foreign investments. Europe was responsible for 61 per cent of new projects, compared with 58 per cent the previous year.

Germany was again the leading European investor and second overall after the United States, with 106 projects, while Italy remained the second ranked European country, with 64 investment decisions.

Several European source countries saw their results increase significantly, most notably the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria. The proportion of projects from emerging economies continued to grow, accounting for 11 per cent of all foreign investments, with 44 countries in all investing in France, up from 39 in 2012.

China remained the eighth largest investor overall, with 33 projects, preceded by Japan with 35, the report added.-TradeArabia News Service