France lures USD 16 bln amid record foreign investment drive

France on Monday secured a record USD 16 billion worth of foreign investments as the annual "Choose France" business summit kicked off at the venerable Versailles Palace, presided over by President Emmanuel Macron. The record surge in investments covers a wide array of fields ranging from energy and artificial intelligence to pharmaceuticals, as the French leader hosted nearly 180 of the world's most prominent businessmen, in which he managed to clinch some 56 different business endeavors with the potential to trigger 10,000 jobs, according to a presidency statement. Attributing the unprecedented success to the diligence of state-wide efforts, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire cited major global firms, including Spain-based fertiliser group FertigHy and e-commerce giant Amazon as among those to have given lofty pledges. The summit comes at a time where France has emerged as Europe's most "attractive destination" for foreign investors, added the statement, praising the economic policies of the French presiden t as being the catalyst for the record investment drive. Source: Kuwait News Agency