THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The French Consul General Pierre Fournier in Puducherry said that there was tremendous scope for developing mutually beneficial economic relationship between France and Kerala.
On a visit to the city, Fournier called on the Chief Secretary K Prabhakaran and Industries Secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma the other day and said that there was good scope for business tie-up in areas such as manufacturing, small and medium enterprises, IT, food and agro, environment and life sciences.
The State Government has decided to use the inputs provided by the Consul General to identify potential investors in its Global Connect Emerging Kerala event scheduled from September 12 to14.
The Consul General has also promised to work closely with the State Government in attracting French businessmen to Emerging Kerala.
The thrust sectors identified by the government for Emerging Kerala have immense scope of attracting investors from France. The possibility of French investment in sectors such as energy, transportation, water treatment and waste management in Kerala could be explored, Fournier said.
These sectors are also the focus of the State Government in the context of Emerging Kerala. The Consul General said that one-third of the French investment in India was concentrated in Chennai.
India and France were also cooperating in various areas such as nuclear energy and defence, he said.