In a bid to invite business executives to invest their money in France, President Emanuel Macron met tech-billionaire and CEO Tesla Elon Musk Monday in Paris to discuss future ventures as he hosts a conference to convince the businesspeople to pour their money into his country.
Emmanuel Macron welcomed Elon Musk — also the CEO of commercial space exploration company SpaceX — six months after meeting in the US, according to the office of the French president.
The meeting of the pair took place at Elysee Palace before they left for Versailles for the latest edition of the president’s Choose France conference where Macron seeks to convince people from the business community to invest in France.
45-year-old President wrote on Twitter: “We talked about the attractiveness of France and the significant progress in the electric vehicle and energy sectors.”
“We have so much to do together,” he added.
One of the world’s richest men Elon Musk waived and smiled at reporters as the meeting got underway however he made no comments.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told the BFMTV broadcaster that “negotiations are ongoing” with the magnate.
Le Maire gave no details of Monday’s talks with CEO Tesla, saying simply that “all of today’s investments are the fruit of months or even years of negotiations”.
President Macron said in a separate tweet that some 13 billion euros of investment would be announced at the summit, equating to the creation of some 8,000 jobs.
“When a foreign investor chooses France, it’s good for jobs and for our regions,” he said.
Some 200 foreign business bosses are likely to attend the business summit, including Sunil Bharti Mittal of Indian conglomerate Bharti Entreprises, ArcelorMittal chief Lakshmi Mittal and Nokia chief executive Pekka Lundmark.
The meeting is being hosted at the Palace of Versailles — the erstwhile residence of the French monarchs — around which a strict security perimeter has been erected.
Despite his efforts to attract the leaders of the business community, President has remained the prime target of French citizens after signing into law his controversial pension reform last month — raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 — leading to new accusations from the opposition he was only a president for the rich.
Taiwanese battery maker ProLogium pledged last week to invest over five billion euros in building a new factory in northern France for its first European plant.
The Swedish furniture giant Ikea and other business projects are announcing over 900 million euros of investment in France by 2026, including creating a logistics centre near Toulouse.
In pharmaceuticals, Pfizer is injecting an additional 500 million euros and Britain’s GSK nearly 400 million in France
During Macron’s trip to the US in December, he held an unannounced face-to-face meeting with Musk, saying later the two had had a “clear and honest” discussion during an hour-long meeting, including on electric cars and batteries.
President Macron had also conveyed to 51-year-old Musk his — and Europe’s — concerns about content moderation on Twitter since Musk bought the influential platform last year for $44bn.
Macron confirmed the pair “also talked about digital regulation” in their Paris meeting.
