Trying to slough off a reputation for bureaucracy and bad labor relations, a senior trade representative from France was in town yesterday to put the case that the Eurozone's second-largest economy is now more business-friendly with the aim of doubling the number of Taiwanese firms investing there within five years.
"France has a good image for tourism, quality of life and social welfare, but not such a good image for business," Clara Gaymard, ambassador-at-large for international investment and president of the Invest in France Agency told reporters in Taipei yesterday. "Things are changing ... Generally we are now more favorable to a business-oriented economy."
Gaymard highlighted more than 50 reforms introduced by the pro-enterprise government elected in 2002 that now make it easier for firms to do business in France.
For example, from Jan. 1 this year, expatriates living in France are exempt from taxation on salaries paid from overseas and can deduct social security payments made to their home country from their taxable income in France.
Executives are now guaranteed visa, work and residence permits within three weeks, and the procedure for the entry of families has been streamlined.
Regulations have also been simplified for setting up research and development facilities, and rules have been relaxed for students going to France to study in the fields of economics, science and management. And to promote the arts, the French government will now give a 20-percent tax credit to any film or animation project shot or produced in France and has set up scholarships and positions for foreign artists who chose to create in France.
An official from the largest Taiwanese investor in France welcomed the news yesterday.
"We welcome such moves, and hope that it will help Acer to further expand its market in France," said Henry Wang (
Acer set up a sales and marketing office in Paris 10 years ago and currently employs 30 people there.
"France is one of the major IT markets in Europe," Wang said. "In the third quarter of 2003, Acer was a top-ten PC brand in France, and top 5 for notebooks."
There are currently 50 Taiwan-ese firms with investments in France, French Institute in Taipei head Christophe Grignon said, without putting a dollar figure on the level of investment.
Meanwhile 130 French firms have invested in Taiwan, employing 22,000 people locally, making France the second largest European investor in Taiwan after the UK.
"The majority of French exports to Taiwan are industrial," Grignon said. "France is not just famous for fashion, luxury goods, food and wine. Forty percent of the total is electronic products. Bilateral investment is intense in the information technology [IT] area."
French companies like Alcatel SA sell components to Taiwanese mobile phone producers, and Franco-Italian firm ST Microelectronics sells components for digital cameras and flat screens, he added.
In 2002, ST persuaded local technology giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to come in on a nanotechnology research project with Royal Philips Electronics in its facilities in Crolles near Grenoble in the French Alps to produce chips with transistors measuring just 90 nanometers across.
Twenty TSMC engineers are working on this program, Grignon said. Motorola Inc joined this research project last year.
RSS