Intending to attract record investments to his country, the President of France Emmanuel Macron welcomed the biggest names in the business world yesterday to the annual Choose France meeting (Choose France). Among them, the founder and CEO of an innovative electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, Elon Muskwho was welcomed by the French President to his official residence at the Elysee Palace before an official dinner with French Finance Minister Brinot Le Maire.

According to sources close to the talks, Mr. Le Maire suggested that Elon Musk invest in green technologies with tax incentives, as provided for by the relevant program announced by the President of France last week. Previously, France had already tried to convince Musk to place his large manufacturing plant on his land, but the Tesla founder preferred Germany. When asked by journalists about Elon Musk’s chances to invest in France, the French finance minister was satisfied with the answer that “the investments that are being made today are the product of negotiations that lasted months or even years.”

In recent years, the President of France has made systematic efforts to attract foreign investors. He repeatedly invited heads of big business to the Palace of Versailles, seeking to attract multi-billion dollar foreign investment. Emmanuel Macron’s “Choose France” initiative is an opportunity for the French president to justify to the French public his attempt to impose business reforms and emphasize the promotion of low-emission industries such as electric vehicles.

This year, it comes at a time when the French president sees his popularity in free fall over his proposed raise in the retirement age, despite prolonged and organized workers’ protests.

The first Choose France Summit took place in 2018. This year, business leaders attending the Versailles event pledged to invest a total of 13 billion euros. This is the largest amount that France has managed to raise in the five years since the first meeting of its kind.