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Cross-border
economic
development
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Cross-cutting themes in cross-border economic development
Socio-economic players unanimously recognise that legislative,
regulatory and political reforms are urgently needed to reverse
the slowdown of the French economy. The main issues at stake
in increasing national competitiveness are deemed to be further
opening the French economy to the international market (attracting
foreign capital, reversing the trade deficit) and restoring confidence.
On the French side, notwith-
standing structural difficul-
ties, there are advantages
and reforms that favour in-
creased competitiveness
Ì
Ì
The 2014 “France Attractiveness Scoreboard”
compiled by
the AFII (Invest in France Agency)
90
, DG Trésor (France’s Treasury
Directorate) and the CGET (General Commission for Territorial
Equality) analyses France’s competitiveness and highlights several
strengths of the French economy:
Ì
Ì
a highly-skilled workforce (which results in very high hourly labour
productivity),
Ì
Ì
high-quality infrastructure (road, rail and sea transport networks;
airport hubs; high-speed internet coverage; reliable electricity
network and competitive cost of energy),
Ì
Ì
geographical position (at the centre of Europe and close to Africa)
Ì
Ì
size of the domestic market.
90
AFII merged with Ubifrance on 1 January 2015 to become “Business France”.
© GLCT du Grand Genève