French exports have come a long way since the days when cheese, perfume and luxury goods were among the only Gallic products shipped to the UAE's shores.
Today, an Airbus A330 , oil equipment, or telecommunications software are just as likely to arrive. The variety of goods is set to be widened further as more French firms eye buyers in the region partly to offset a slump in demand in Europe.
"More and more companies are realising they have to go abroad if they want to grow and save their business," said François Sporrer, the director for the UAE and Qatar at UbiFrance, the trade office of the French government.
"We are observing a new tendency and the UAE and the Middle East is one of those targets."
More than 400 French companies have visited the Emirates on organised business delegations since the start of the year, about 40 per cent more than over the same period last year, UbiFrance data shows. Eleven firms are in the UAE and Qatar at the moment. Modulo Velum, a company based outside Paris, sells stretch fabric for use in exhibitions and other events.
"We see market opportunities here as there are lot of events," said its sales manager Anthony Truong. "Most of our market is in Europe and the opportunities are becoming less. When you don't have the budget, [money for events] is the first thing that tends to be cut."
Trade within the European Union represents about two thirds of most French exporters' totals. But stagnant growth or recession across the euro zone means demand is slowing.
The French government, meanwhile, wants more companies to export. Only 100,000 French companies export their products abroad, compared with twice that number in Italy and four times that in Germany.
Login, another company in the delegation, will consider setting up an office in the region if it can find enough banks interested in its financial software systems.
Half of the company's business is already linked to banks in the Caribbean, South America and elsewhere outside Europe.
"Here, there are banks which are relatively new and are willing to spend money," said Pascale Hertzog, a director at the firm based in Paris. "In Europe there are no prospects at the moment as the market either has software in place already or [companies] are not willing to spend."
France has a 3 per cent share of the UAE's trade market with exports rising by 5 per cent to reach €3.65 billion (Dh16.74bn) last year.
Aircraft, mechanical and electrical equipment and consumer goods are among the biggest exports but the country is looking to broaden the mix to include health, telecoms and environmental technology.
"Since the beginning of the year, activity has increased tremendously," said Mr Sporrer.
French firms are increasingly considering the UAE as their first foreign market over other destinations such as China, he said.
"In terms of regulations and customs it is not that complicated and probably easier than exporting to China, Asia and maybe South America," he said.
Businesses perception of the Emirates has also improvedas Dubai has started to resolve its debt problems and the country has returned to robust growth, he said.
tarnold@thenational.ae
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20TV%204K%20(THIRD%20GENERATION)
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JAPAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa
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It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The years Ramadan fell in May
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
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Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani
Based: Riyadh
Sector: Software
Employees: 150
Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing
Funders: Raed Advanced Investment Co, Al-Riyadh Al Walid Investment Co, 500 Falcons, SWM Investment, AlShoaibah SPV, Faith Capital, Technology Investments Co, Savour Holding, Future Resources, Derayah Custody Co.
The five pillars of Islam
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The years Ramadan fell in May
MATCH STATS
Wolves 0
Aston Villa 1 (El Ghazi 90 4' pen)
Red cards: Joao Moutinho (Wolves); Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa)
Man of the match: Emi Martinez (Aston Villa)
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
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