Small- to medium-sized Georgia businesses interested in setting up offices in Europe are encouraged to attend a Thursday, April 19, seminar that showcases France as a gateway to the continent, Frederic Mot, executive director of the French-American Chamber of Commerce here, told GlobalAtlanta.
The free seminar will be held from 9 a.m. — 1 p.m. at the Woodruff Arts Center in Midtown. It is scheduled to feature speakers from the legal, financial, logistics and business development sectors that can help Atlanta businesspeople learn how to best open an office in France.
In addition to the French-American chamber, the New York office of Invest in France, the country’s business development agency that encourages companies to locate in France, and global logistics provider FedEx Corp. are also sponsoring the seminar.
While there are a number of Georgia-based multinationals that already have operations in France, the seminar will focus on getting the state’s small-to medium-sized businesses to locate there as well, said Mr. Mot.
“We’re really trying to attract smaller companies that need some guidance,” Mr. Mot said of the conference, adding that he expected to have about 100 individuals attend. He said that the event is modeled after a similar business seminar the three entities put on in September in Memphis, Tenn., where FedEx is based.
Last year, FedEx and the French Office of Economic and Commercial Affairs in Washington entered a formal relationship to help small- to medium-sized U.S. and French companies do more trans-Atlantic trade and investment. FedEx and the French office, which manages six trade commissions across the U.S. including one in Atlanta, help companies find foreign buyers for their products and provide them with assistance in entering the U.S. or French markets with seminars such as these.
Scheduled speakers for the event are to include: Philippe Ardanaz, French consul general in Atlanta; Olivier Cormier, president of Invest in France Agency North America; Michael Filchock, vice president international of SunTrust Banks Inc.; Tim Hortin-Mastin, managing director France sales and marketing for FedEx Express ; Robert Connan, senior commercial officer to France with the U.S. Commercial Service; Philippe Manteau, attorney with the Paris office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP; Frederic Le Roux with the Paris Region International Mission Enterprise and Claire McLeveighn, director of external affairs and international relations for the city of Atlanta.
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