Provence Promotion, the economic development agency for Aix-Marseille, the second metro area of France, and the Port of Marseille Fos are visiting India to meet with key leaders from the Indian sectors of Industry, logistics, and technology related ecosystems. Business France the trade and investment commission of France in India shall be assisting the delegation from 15th November to 19th November in Mumbai and Bangalore to strengthen ties between India and the Provence region. The objective of this visit is to discuss opportunities and advantages for Indian companies who wish to choose France as a location of Investment, especially post Brexit.
The region of Aix-Marseille is known for its progress in various sectors such as maritime, energy and technology. The Port of Marseille Fos is one of the most important port in Europe, and the maritime trade here lays the historic foundation of Marseille’s economy. It is also the headquarters of the global shipping leader CMA CGM. Besides, major investments are also seen in the energy and scientific sectors of Aix-Marseille.
Today, Aix-Marseille is a vital global data hub; Thanks to its geostrategic location and infrastructure of submarine cables that are essential for the international exchanges. In the next 2 years, Marseille will be one of the Top 5 places in the world, in terms of connectivity and bandwidth. These main submarine cables that land in Marseille will eventually connect India to Europe, and create faster, more efficient connections.
Over the past several years, there has been a rise in Indian investments from numerous Indian companies and different sectors in Provence. In 2018, the Indian IT giant Infosys, opened offices in Marseille to facilitate its digital transition and benefit from the proximity to CMA CGM.
Electrosteel, expanded its production and logistics facilities in Arles, benefitting from the proximity to the Port of Marseille-Fos and its exposure to Africa. Cyrille Hahang, the Managing Director of Electrosteel in Europe, highlights the importance of this region for Indian investors “We thought that we had to be in Paris to do business. But to be connected to the world, and more particularly to Africa, Marseille emerged as the best solution because of its great opening to the world by the sea.”
In addition, Provence is home to the largest scientific cooperation project in the world, the ITER fusion experiment. India is a member of this project and is contributing €2 billion in in-kind goods and money, or 9% of the total budget. Last year, Jawed Ashraf, Ambassador of India to France was hosted in Marseille for a presentation of the territory by Provence promotion where he said “Provence is now the perfect place to be connected to the European and African markets. With Brexit, there is a great opportunity for Indian companies to choose France and, more particularly, Provence to develop their business.”
On this strategic trip, Provence Promotion and the Port of Marseille Fos will engage with the stakeholders in the industrial and port sectors offering production site opportunities in Europe, They will also meet Maritime traffic stakeholders wishing to have access to the European and African markets via a single multimodal site as well as Technology entrepreneurs who have breakthrough innovations.