The head of the Invest in France Agency for North America, Philippe Yvergniaux, will be visiting Atlanta from New York on Thursday, Feb. 4, to attend the sixth Crystal Peach Awards ceremony to be held that evening at the Capital City Country Club in Brookhaven. The awards will be given to an American company for outbound investment into France and one French company for inbound investment into Georgia.

Mr. Yvergniaux held a similar post with Invest in France in London before his most recent appointment in September 2009.

In the following email interview with GlobalAtlanta, he discusses his plans for reinforcing ties between France and the Southeast.

GlobalAtlanta: Having served as the head of the Invest in France agency for five years in the United Kingdom, you saw England and Ireland’s economies prosper through a boom economic period. Were their economies caught off guard as much as that of the U.S. by the global economic downturn?

Mr. Yvergniaux: It is widely acknowledged that Great Britain and Ireland have been among the most severely impacted countries in Europe by the current recession. The main macroeconomic indicators such as the national debt, the public deficit, or the unemployment rate, have jumped to unforeseen levels.

Indeed, this has probably to do with the prominent place occupied by the financial sector in both economies. However, as far as Invest in France was concerned, we were positively surprised to see that we still had many investment leads coming from British companies, either in services or high-tech industries, which had pretty well resisted to the crisis.

These companies kind of took advantage of the economic downturn to look outside, and especially towards the more stable “continent” – or the Eurozone - for new markets, so as to be less dependent on a failing U.K. - or American - market.

GlobalAtlanta: You are now based in New York, heading up the North American operations of the Invest in France Agency. We are in an apprehensive period for economic growth and investment. Is your job much more difficult now than when you were based in London?

Mr. Yvergniaux: Hopefully not!

On one side, the image of the French economy and its so-called “model” has dramatically improved during the past two years, both in Britain and the U.S.A., probably for two main reasons:

First, many CEOs whom I have met over the past 18 months in Britain or in America realize that our economy, and our market, have been more resilient than many other developed Western countries, and that there are many opportunities for business and investment in France, not only for its national market, but as a springboard to the Eurozone – which is a bigger market than North America, or China plus Japan plus Korea…

Second, we also benefit from the impact of the reforms passed under the policies of President Sarkozy to make France a more business-friendly environment. The Research Tax Credit (the best in Europe) or the new “employment contract termination by mutual agreement” introduced recently are but two striking examples.

On the other side, we fully realize that many American companies, which could have indeed real opportunities to invest in France and develop there their European business, are today reluctant to make a decision, given the grim global economic prospects.

GlobalAtlanta: How has foreign direct investment fared in France during the recession?

Mr. Yvergniaux: There is a mixed picture: While the investments from the U.S.A. have been clearly impacted by the recession, we have had a good activity from the other Eurozone countries – Germany, Italy, Spain… Globally, France and the U.K. will certainly remain in 2009 the two main recipients of foreign investments in Europe.

GlobalAtlanta: What factors do you consider most important in its ability to continue attracting foreign direct investment (FDI)?

Mr. Yvergniaux: The biggest competitive advantages of France are well known, and widely recognized: 1) the market (national, and access to the Eurozone); 2) the quality of the workforce and 3) the quality of the infrastructures and utilities.

Beyond this, our ability to continue attracting FDI in this changing and very competitive world will rely on two major factors, which I would call the “bicycle paradox”:

Be able to move forward, and permanently adapt to the new challenges. Hence the priority given by the government to supporting innovation in the industry and services, and to investing in the green technologies: renewable energies, electric vehicles, energy-efficient housing, waste management… Billions of Euros have been mobilized (in particular through the “Grand Emprunt," or National Loan) to support the development of these new technologies, and markets;

And at the same time, offer stability and visibility to foreign investors: When a company has to decide a major investment - R&D center, production facility, strategic move on a market - one of the key factors examined is the “visibility” they have on the conditions offered by each potential location, in terms of political and social environment, but also of evolution of the costs over time – mainly workforce, utilities, and taxes.

France – as most Western European countries and North America- already offers on that regard one of the most stable environments. We will have to make sure that we keep this competitive advantage.

GlobalAtlanta: The U.S. company, First Solar Inc., a leading manufacturer of photovoltaic panels, has announced a major 100 million euro investment near Bordeaux, France. Why did the company choose the Bordeaux area and what does such an announcement indicate about the opportunities in France generally?

Mr. Yvergniaux: Why Bordeaux rather than Marseille or Strasbourg is not the real issue: for this particular project, for which they surveyed tens of potential sites in France, they eventually found the best match with their location criteria in Bordeaux. More importantly, why did they choose France rather than other European countries? That illustrates my very point on innovation: France is today the biggest market in Europe for the development of renewable energy, and especially solar energy.

GlobalAtlanta: What sorts of investments are you encouraging your staff to seek out in the U.S. for France?

Mr. Yvergniaux: All American investments are welcome! Having said that, we focus mainly on high-tech sectors related to the current growing markets: green technologies, energy, biotechnologies and pharma…

We do not neglect in the mean time some more traditional sectors: food industry, aeronautics, automotive, logistics - for which France offers both skills to develop innovation and market opportunities.

GlobalAtlanta: FedEx recently completed the expansion of its European hub at Charles de Gaulle Airport. What do you expect will be the impact of this expansion?

Mr. Yvergniaux: We only wish we could achieve in the CDG area (north of Paris) what Memphis has achieved thanks to its FedEx Aerotropolis: the benefit of being close to one of the three world hubs of FedEx, and being able to deliver products throughout the world in a minimal delay, is huge for many industries: pharmacy, medical, equipment, distribution services, online retail, and many others…

GlobalAtlanta: Your staff member Mathieu Palisson will be focused on the Southeast in coming months. What sorts of companies will he be looking for to invest in France?

Mr. Yvergniaux: Mathieu will be our “coordinator” for Georgia and Florida, two very dynamic states where we have decided to increase our efforts. He will be more particularly in charge of the sector of “services," from retail to finance, consulting firms, tourism and logistics.

But he will be joined by two other members of our New York-based team: Sarah Bony, who specializes in information technology and electronics, and Julie LeBlanc, who will take care of the industrial sectors, from food industry to pharma/biotechs, green techs and mechanical industry.

GlobalAtlanta: As head of Invest in France North America, you also are responsible for attracting Canadian investment into France. How do you feel Canadian-French relations are faring these days?

Mr. Yvergniaux: They are possibly at a turning point: We have long had strong ties with Québec, for obvious reasons, which reflect in the presence in France of major Canadian firms such as Bombardier, Cascades or SNC Lavallin.

But until recently we had less ties with the other provinces. This is changing, in both ways: many French companies are heavily investing in these English speaking provinces - Alberta, for instance, and we at Invest in France are more and more active in British Columbia or Ontario, where we have based our Canada office.

GlobalAtlanta: Are you generally positive about the economic outlook for 2010, 2011?

Mr. Yvergniaux: Let me check my crystal ball, or rather, my crystal peach…

The Crystal Peach Awards ceremony is to begin at 7 p.m. The cost to attend is $150 for members of the French-American Chamber of Commerce and $175 for non-members. The cost for a corporate table of 10 people is $1,500. To make a reservation, call Frederick Mot at (404) 846-2500.

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