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DOHA: Paris is wooing potential Qatari investors to be the part of a huge infrastructure development project -- 'Greater Paris' -- to which the government of France has already committed €50bn. The state-sponsored investment in infrastructures is designed to trigger €80bn private investment, visiting officials told The Peninsula yesterday.
"The project is already moving. The investments are expected to add 250bn euros to the country's GDP in the next ten years. The response that we get from Qatari investors are really encouraging", Chiara Corazzara, Managing Director, Greater Paris Investment Agency said.
International investors are eager to step in. GreenField investments have jumped 42 percent over last year against 10 percent growth in the previous year, she said on the sidelines of an "Investment Majlis" hosted by Qatari Businessmen Association with the French e Embassy in Qatar in the presence of the French ambassador Eric Chevallier.
Billed as the third most attractive investment destination in the world, The Greater Paris is envisaged as an exceptionally diverse economy, with leading clusters in finance, banking and insurance, complex systems, nanotechs and alternative energies, biotechs and genomics, greentechs and utilities, robotics, softwares, gaming, aeronautics and logisitics.
Chiara, key member of a 20-member visiting delegation , said 'Greater Paris' has already emerged as a top destination for global investors.
The "Grand Paris" project , the core project, is the number one economic development project in Europe. Seven clusters are already under development. Linked by 200km network infrastructure , it has got 65km/h high-capacity automated subways, twice the speed of existing lines.
Chiara who elaborated on the opportunities for foreign investors in the real estate sector, said real estate in France can be acquired either by way of asset or share deal. The sales and purchase agreement (SPA) in an asset deal must be notarised for land registration purposes. By contrast, SPAs in a share deal can be concluded as private agreements.
The French ambassador said France is currently the second investment destination for Qatar. The value of commercial activities between Qatar and France stood at €3bn at the end of 2015. This is excluding the aircraft deals struck by the entities in both the countries.
France offers a wide range of opportunities for Qatari investors, including real estate, new technologies, innovative startups, healthcare, hospitality and sports and games.
Greater Paris Investment Agency is founded by Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry to attract new international investors to Greater Paris and to bolster its attractiveness. It is comprised of more than one hundred major French and multinational companies.
© The Peninsula 2016
