France eyes 'new era' of trade links with Gulf

TRADE LINKS: Anne-Marie Idrac, French Foreign Trade Minister, is seeking a new era of cooperation with GCC countries. (Supplied)

Strengthening ties between the UAE and France might see companies such as power and transport giant Alstom upping their stake in the country, according to a French government official.

Anne-Marie Idrac, French Foreign Trade Minister, told Arabian Business during a four-day visit to the region: “There is already a lot of cooperation [between the two countries] but what we are talking about is a deeper cooperation and new era of long-term cooperation in areas of energy, transport, water and other.”

She noted that the schedule and planning of infrastructure projects across the UAE will not be affected by the financial crisis because “they’re at the top of the agenda of the government”.

“Alstom is a very well-known company in the region and worldwide and will be one of the company’s interested in all the development,” said Idrac.

Alstom is a large French multinational conglomerate with businesses spread across power generation and transport.

The company is present in different part of the GCC such as Saudi and the UAE. It is involved in Dubai’s multi-billion metro project.

Following French President Sarkozy’s visit to the UAE at the beginning of this year, France had signed a cooperation agreement to build nuclear power stations in the Gulf in return for a military base there.

The base will be located in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and accommodate up to 500 troops.

With Abu Dhabi’s big plans to develop alternative energy, Alstom is at the top of the list if a bid for a nuclear power plant is initiated.

Nuclear power could provide a cheap alternative to meeting the GCC’s demand for desalinated water and electricity, which has rocketed as countries such as the UAE continue their aggressive development.

France is also looking to bring to the region an increasing number of its small to medium size businesses.

The chairman of UBI France, the French Agency for International Business Development, was present at Gitex, the largest ITC show in the GCC to “encourage” French companies.

Alain Cousin, chairman of UBI France, and member of parliament, said: “The President [Nicolas Sarkozy] has emphasised that there should be development and encouragement for small and medium size businesses to expand their products worldwide.

“Germany has 11 percent of SME’s outside the country while France has only 4 percent. UBI France started to send French companies outside."

He added that ties between the UAE and France were getting stronger and that large corporations are plenty but SMEs need to also be brought into the market.

UBI France has a mission to export 10,000 French companies worldwide by 2011, according to Cousin.

During her visit to the Gulf, Idrac had trade discussions with officials in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Oman.

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