Franck Riester visits India to consolidate Indo-French economic ties [fr]
H.E. Mr Franck Riester, Minister of State for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness of France visits India on 10 – 11 March 2022, covering Delhi and Bengaluru.
The purpose of the Minister’s trip was to consolidate the robust bilateral economic ties with India to meet the current challenges of the global economy. Given France and India’s common goal to boost their strategic autonomy this visit sought to enhance Indo-French cooperation in key industrial sectors. Minister Riester also held talks on France and India’s efforts to reform the world trade system post-pandemic. He also reaffirmed France’s commitment in the Indo-Pacific, and further the positive French and European economic agenda for prosperity in the region.
In Delhi, Minister Riester met Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry, with whom he reviewed trade and investment, and ways of fostering greater ease of doing business between the two countries, and coordination in multilateral fora on economic issues.
Minister Riester met Indian investors to highlight the advantages extended to foreign investors under the country’s massive recovery plan of €100 billion, “France 2030” investment plan in key industrial sectors, post-Brexit relocation opportunities, as well as showcased France as a perfect gateway to expansive European markets.
Minister Riester also held discussions with the representatives of French companies and the French network in India that assists French companies in their Indian projects. On this occasion, the minister presided over the ceremony of the IFCCI Business Awards 2022 for outstanding accomplishments of Indian and French companies based in India, as well as the Grand Prix VIE South Asia 2022 recognising young French achievers working in French companies abroad.
During his trip, the minister also visited French business success stories in India in tech and smart solutions. In Delhi-NCR, he visited the Noida Headquarters, R&D and Design facility of French company IDEMIA, a global leader in smart solutions for identity security services.
In Bengaluru, he visited Dassault Systèmes, a 3DEXPERIENCE company that provides business and people with collaborative 3D virtual environments to imagine sustainable innovations.
He also visited the Indian company CENTUM Electronics, which has offices in France, providing precision microelectronics that are critical for applications in many sectors, including aerospace and defence.
Minister Riester wound up his tour with meeting representatives from French and Indian tech ecosystems, brought together by the French Tech in Bangalore, which creates global connects for innovation.
Interview to The Economic Times
India to play key role as EU, France seek to diversify supply chains: French minister
India will play a key part as Europe and France seek to diversify their supply chains in the backdrop of Covid 19 pandemic and sanctions imposed on Russia in recent weeks, Franck Riester, French Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, told ET.
“The Ukraine crisis has come as on top of the Covid 19 crisis and is accelerating the need for Europe and France to rethink our value chains and supply chains. It’s a matter of strategic autonomy. From semi-conductors to energy and other key sectors, we are diversifying and increasing the resilience of our supply chains. India will play a key part in this endeavour. . Co-localisation of production with India will be a priority,” Riester told ET in an exclusive interview following his meeting with his Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal.
The Minister pointed out that French companies in India do not aim to address only the Indian market and both New Delhi and Paris are keen for third country exports including in Africa and Indo-Pacific regions from India.
The meeting with Goyal was not just aimed at pushing an ambitious India-EU FTA but also seeking to boost investment flows between France and India, in the two directions. “We are working on a real ambitious agenda for India-EU FTA and France as the current President of the Council of the EU is pushing that target. With respect to bilateral investments, the goal is not only about increasing French investments in India but also inviting more Indian FDI into France. Today France has become Europe’s leading FDI destination and the government has introduced ambitious pro-business reforms including lower corporate taxes for investors,” Riester informed.
Pointing out that the current French government is putting highest priority to India, the Minister informed that there will be several high-level official and industry delegations visiting this country in the coming weeks and months. Smart cities, water management, connectivity, renewables, nuclear energy and Blue Economy are among key sectors for French investments in India, according to the Minister. “We are focussing on a sustainable development model.”
With more than 1,000 French establishments already present in India, France has a cumulative investment of $ 9.86 billion from April 2000 to June 2021. Simultaneously there are around 200 subsidiaries of Indian businesses established in France.
France is also partnering with India to develop Chandigarh, Puducherry and Nagpur as smart cities with a commitment of over $ 2.2 billion for the latter’s smart cities project. India and France are also in the field of renewable energy cooperation towards development of technological know-how and thereby aid the process of attaining the ambitious target of 450 GW of installed Renewable Energy capacity by 2030.
The interview was published in The Economic Times on 12th March 2022.