Three hundred large French and Greek companies agreed today in Paris to meet one on one as part of the second Greek-French investment forum in the past year. On the table are major deals and investments in the fields of energy, environment, defense, tourism, transport, shipping, security, technology, digital transformation and the economy as a whole.

The forum will be attended by six ministers and deputy ministers of Greece, two ministers of transport and defense of France, a deputy minister of foreign affairs and a secretary general for energy, as well as representatives of French business representative bodies such as Medef, CCI Paris, CCEF will present the actions and cooperation carried out over the past two years, and talk about new opportunities and investment prospects.

More than 55 Greek companies and another 20 French companies already established in Greece make up the Greek delegation that will attend the forum to meet with relevant French companies. Greek bands heading to France include Ellactor, GEK TERNA, Intracom, Stelma, Kopelouzou Group, Olympia Odos, KPMG, EYDAP, EYATH, Hellenic Development Bank, Prisma Electronics, Sky Express, Akmon, EFA Ventures, Tera Spatium, Space, Lariplast. , but also organizations such as Hotel Chamber, Entreprise Greece and TAIPED.

The event comes just six months after a similar forum held in Greece in May, and a forum organized by the Greco-French Chamber of Commerce in Paris in January 2020, and is part of an increasingly close network of cooperation that has been systematically built. in recent years between enterprises, but also the governments of the two countries.

Characteristically, the list of French groups participating in the forum and holding meetings with Greek companies includes French giants that already operate in Greece, such as Akuo, Air France, Edf, Vinci Energies, Alstom, CMA-CGM, Bureau Veritas , Autovision, Eren, Egis, Vinci Concessions, Naval Group, Thales, Groupama, Mbda, Valorem, Setec and Voltalia. But it also includes other groups and in particular companies such as Airbus, Gican, Gicat, Atos, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Stratege Finance, Idemia, Smart Press, Alcatel, Bollore, Quair, OCEA, ACCOR, Agence Alps, value state. , Extendam, GL, Loreal, Ratp, Preligens, Societe General, Saur, EDF and 3WASTE.

Focusing on business projects in energy, environment, defense, tourism, transport and technology.

At the same time, many more executives, entrepreneurs and consultants from France and Greece registered for the conference. The Hellenic-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry also took part in this year’s event entitled “Cooperation between Greece and France 2.0: an investment in the future”.

In recent years, ties between the two countries have significantly strengthened, many projects have been implemented, diplomatic and economic relations have reached a new level. The budget of projects and investments announced or evaluated by French companies in cooperation with Greek companies or independently is estimated at around 10 billion euros.

Road concessions, shipbuilding projects, aviation, security, defense and certification, water and waste management and equipment are the main sectors in which they operate. It is also recalled that one of the largest investments is Greek and concerns the purchase of 46 new Airbus aircraft under an agreement signed with Aegean in 2018. The value of this contract at list prices was then $5 billion. Other major contracts are bidding for France’s Egis, which, in addition to a minority stake in the consortium currently managed by Attiki Odos, also participates with a 25% stake in a joint scheme with GEK TERNA, which acted as a concessionaire. for Egnatia Odos. In addition, Egis, along with two very large French investment funds, is involved in a scheme that requires a new concession for Attica Road. Accordingly, Vinci Concessions, which in addition to the Olympia Road concession which it controls, as well as the Rio Antririo bridge and the Maliakos-Kleidis axis, also claims the Attica Road concession in a joint venture with the Mytilineos group. The Naval Group could not miss the forum, which took over the construction of three new frigates of the Navy under an agreement worth more than 3 billion euros, and also announced a program to build corvettes. Naval Group is also a major sponsor of the event.

France is the 5th largest foreign investor in Greece with a total investment of 1.49 billion (up from 3.1 billion in 2012 when Credit Agricole and Carrefour were still present in Greece). Exports to France last year were $1.8 billion, up 4.4%, while imports were $2.5 billion, up 16.7%. The untapped potential of Greek exports to France through 2027 is an additional $1 billion, according to the World Trade Center.

The Greek government will be represented in bilateral contacts by Ministers of Finance Christos Staikouras, Development Adonis Georgiadis, Infrastructure and Transport Kostas Karamanlis, Shipping Ioannis Plakiotakis, National Defense Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Digital Management Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Deputy Foreign Minister Kostas Fragoyannis, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Sophia Zacharakis General energy secretary Alexandra Sdoukou.