The Mouvement des Entreprises deFrance (MEDEF) or ‘Movement of the Enterprises of France’ today expressed its intention to strengthen trade ties between France and India.
Claiming to be the largest employer federation of France representing over 800,000 member companies advocating the interest of large, medium and small enterprises, MEDEF lauded the current leadership of both India and France for their understanding about the “power of business”.
“We think that there is a mood of historical momentum in timing for France to be closer to India and India to be closer to France, for the reasons that our needs correspond,” MEDEF President Pierre Gattaz told reporters here.
“We can bring our expertise in to the transformation of India for a win-win, long lasting partnership….we would like to be one of your best partners to accompany in this very nice development,” he added.
Led by Gattaz, the 60-member delegation, comprising SMEs and some leading French corporations visited NUMA Bengaluru, a French startup accelerator,to discuss investment opportunities between the two countries.
During their three-city tour of New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, they met various central and state ministries, industry bodies and large companies, among others, with an intention to fillip both economies, with special interest in the government’s “Make in India” initiative, officials from the delegation said.
Representatives of the delegation, whose visit marks the precursor to French President Emmanuel Macron’s official state visit to India later this year, had recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.
Praising Modi and Macron, Gattaz said both of them have a vision for their countries.
“Both of them understand the power of business…When I look at Mr Modi and Macron they have both vision and conviction for business and they understand the importance of innovation, job creation and role played by companies and business,” he added.
Gattaz noted that France can bring to India expertise in infrastructure, energy (renewable and nuclear), waste treatment, water treatment, transportation and railway infrastructure, among others.
“Expertise in these fields comply very well with the Indian vision and Indian needs…” he added.
Gattaz said the delegation came to know about the country’s aspirations like Make in India,Innovate in India and creation of jobs with the right talent, competency and skills through their discussions with the Indian leadership and added that interestingly, French companies have expertise in this.
“Among the 40 largest companies in France, 25 of them have their R&D centers in India,which is a very strong ratio.”
Officials said there are about 450 French companies in India in about 1,000 different locations.
Source: PTI
