Trade and Investment
As two mutually integrated economies, the United Kingdom and France have strong economic and commercial links. Commercial flows between France and the United Kingdom are considerable and growing steadily.
The United Kingdom represented the fourth destination for French direct investment in 2001 (from 5th place in 1999) and France the first destination for British direct investment. The flow of direct investment is growing each year between France and the United Kingdom and leading to a growing interpenetration of both economies. This trend has been accentuated in the last few years, with the opening of British public service markets which sparked an important wave of French investments, and with the boom of the NTIC until 2000.
Over 1,500 subsidiaries of British firms are present in France in such sectors as financial services, chemicals, food and drink and distribution. With more than 1,500 firms employing 250,000 people, French investment in the United Kingdom is predominantly concentrated in services. Recently, French firms have benn particularly active in the privatised public utilities such as water distribution, transport,and electricity. There is also a significant French presence in the oil, chemical, automobile, and electronics industries and financial services. In 2001, for the first time since 1998, British investment in France exceeded French investment in the UK.
France has also a healthy trade surplus with Britain. In 2001 it reached EUR 7.2 billion. Semi-finished products and capital goods accounted for half our bilateral trade. France’s surplus comes mainly from two sectors: food and beverages, but above all from car manufacturing. On the other hand, as a major oil producer, Britain has a substantial energy surplus in its trade with France .
The Mission Economique is the economic and commercial section of the Embassy. It operates under the authority of the Direction des Relations Economiques Exterieures (DREE) in Paris and helps French companies’ development. It is responsible for: developing and promoting Franco-British relations in this field, monitoring the economic, business and trade environment in the UK, maintaining a dialogue with senior British officials at the Department of Trade and Industry, at the Ministries of Agriculture, the Environment and Transport, reporting back to the relevant ministerial departments in Paris, and keeping French exporters and investors informed. It also works in close cooperation with the Financial Agency, the Tax Attaché’s Department , the Customs Section, the "Invest in France" Agency, and the French Technology Press Bureau which promotes French technological innovation in the UK.
Franco-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry
The Franco-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the official representative of the Confederation of British Industry in France and was founded in 1872 under its original name of "British Chamber of Commerce Paris". The chamber’s name was changed to its present title in 1980 to take account of growing French participation in the membership and also to prepare the way for a greater participation in Europe. The Chamber’s principal function is to assist its members in developing and promoting trade relationships between France and Great Britain. The services of the Chamber are increasing, as indeed is the membership, not only of French firms realising the need for an Anglo-French partnership, but also of British firms recognising the importance of their future role in Europe and that France is the almost inevitably the first stage for their entry into Europe.
The Chambre de Commerce Française de Grande-Bretagne
The French Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain has a key role to play in maintaining this special relationship. Its raison d’être is to develop and promote trade and investments between France and Britain and to provide both business communities wih specialised services and a forum to further its members’ interests. The French Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain was established in London in 1883 as a private organisation. It has privileged relationships with the entire network of French Chambers which play a significant economic development role in France where all companies participate actively in their local Chamber’s activities.
It was established in 1998 by the British and French Governments to promote entrepreneurship between the two countries. The Franco-British Club originated in a meeting between Prime Ministers Blair and Jospin at which it was recognised that sharing information and building greater collaboration between the two countries would be of mutual benefit in fostering entrepreneurship.