In 2009, the total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in France was $68 billion, the third largest value in the world.

France is now looking to secure even more investment from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). One such investment is the Saclay development where a sum of 1.85 billion Euros is being invested into a science and technology centre on the outskirts of the capital. Between 2003 and 2009, France was 10th in the list of countries receiving FDI from the GCC.

Chairman and CEO of Invest in France Agency (IFA) commented "A lot of money has been invested by the private and public sectors in France. These projects also aim to attract a lot of interest internationally." The foreign work force in France is significant at about 10 percent of the labour force and the country has some 23,000 foreign companies doing business there. At an investment of about 4.6 billion Euros, there are about 50 GCC companies doing business in France.

In order to establish and maintain the relationship between the GCC and France, an office has been opened in Abu Dhabi by IFA. "We really want to be as active as possible in this region. First we would like to get more companies from this region to come to our country," Appia said.

France has also made adjustments such as introducing a favourable tax regime for expatriates and getting rid of local business tax in productive investments. It is hoped that these changes to the tax regime will attract even more foreign investment.

To attract more foreign investment, France has reformed its tax regime. Adjustments include abolishing local business tax in productive investments and introducing a favourable tax regime for expatriates.