Argentina and France strengthen their bilateral economic relations at the opening of activities of the French Development Agency
March 30, 2017
The Minister of Finance, Luis Caputo, met this Thursday with the Minister of Economy and Finance of France, Michel Sapin, to strengthen economic relations between both countries.
At the working meeting, the beginning of activities of the French Development Agency (AFD) was announced.
Michel Sapin highlighted the strong bonds between both countries and, in particular, the number of investment of French firms in Argentina.
Luis Caputo said: “We continue working on creating the conditions for growth and more employment. Within such framework, an agreement like this one, with a fellow country like France, helps us to develop the infrastructure we need in order to be more competitive and to create the jobs that Argentinians need. I would like to highlight the continuous support provided by France over the years within the international financial context”.
The Agency’s beginning of activities, which will focus on the financing of infrastructure works, in particular water infrastructure, strengthens the bilateral cooperation relations. As backgrounds, we can mention the visit of the President of France in February 2016 and the Agency’s diplomatic visit to Argentina in October of that same year.
The meeting allowed both Ministers to make progress in a number of pending issues related to the bilateral agenda with the objective of strengthening the financial relations of both countries.
The AFD is a financial institution aimed at the cooperation with developing and emerging countries in their fight against poverty. The AFD contributes to economic and social growth through financing of development projects, in particular infrastructure. In theory, the AFD should be involved with Argentina in the co-financing with multilateral or regional banks to develop water infrastructure in the country.
France is one of the big foreign investors in Argentina. There are about 250 French firms registered in Argentina. These firms hire around 50,000 employees, mainly in the distribution, automotive, energy, health and financial and technology services sectors. Over the last year, French firms have made numerous investments, supporting the modernization strategy of Mauricio Macri’s Government.
Since December 2015, De Sangosse, Louis Dreyfus, Total, PSA, Renault and Sanofi Pasteur have announced investments for more than 1 billion dollars, showing the confidence French firms have in Argentina’s potential for growth.