PARIS, May 14 (Reuters) - France is set to win record
foreign investment pledges when President Emmanuel Macron rolls
out the red carpet for global CEOs on Monday at the annual
'Choose France' summit in Versailles, his office said on Sunday.
Executives attending the event have made commitments to
invest a combined 13 billion euros ($14 billion), the most since
Macron started hosting the summit in 2018 in the former royal
palace outside Paris.
With a total of 28 investment projects in the pipeline this
year, companies ranging from U.S. pharmaceutical group Pfizer to Swedish furniture maker and investment bank Morgan
Stanley are planning to expand in France, creating an
expected 8,000 jobs in total.
Over the past five years, Macron has invited top CEOs to the
glamorous setting of Versailles Palace in hope of securing
billions in foreign investments he says justifies his
pro-business reform drive.
This year's summit offers the former investment banker the
opportunity to turn a page on months of protests and strikes
against his plans to raise the retirement age by two years to
64.
The single biggest investment is a 5.2 billion euro project
from a Taiwanese car battery maker in the northern port city of
Dunkirk, which Macron already announced on Friday.
It is followed by a 1.5 billion euro battery components
plant also in Dunkirk in a joint venture between Chinese group
XTC and French firm Orano.
Ikea has plans to invest 906 million euros by 2026 while
Pfizer aims has budgeted 500 million euros to expand in France
over the same period followed by British rival GSK with 400
million euros, Macron's office said.
Morgan Stanley is expected to announced the creation of 200
new banking jobs in Paris.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas
Editing by Christina Fincher)
