Doing Business In (Insert Country Name Here) - BNA
Doing Business In (Insert Country Name Here) - BNA
Doing Business In (Insert Country Name Here) - BNA
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Project Financing Return to top<br />
Foreign companies have access to all banking services described in Section A. The<br />
other main financing is through French financial markets. The center of the French stock<br />
market is the Paris stock exchange (the "Bourse") that is part of the first transatlantic<br />
exchange NYSE Euronext. More details can be found in the <strong>In</strong>vestment Climate Section<br />
of this report (A9).<br />
EU financial assistance programs provide a wide array of grants, loans, loan guarantees<br />
and co-financing for feasibility studies and infrastructure projects in a number of key<br />
sectors (e.g., environmental, transportation, energy, telecommunications, tourism, public<br />
health). From a commercial perspective, these initiatives create significant market<br />
opportunities for U.S. businesses, U.S.-based suppliers, and subcontractors.<br />
The EU supports projects within its Member States, as well as EU-wide "economic<br />
integration" projects that cross both internal and external EU borders. <strong>In</strong> addition, the EU<br />
provides assistance to accession countries in Eastern and Southern Europe and Turkey,<br />
as well as some of the former Soviet republics.<br />
The European Union provides project financing through grants from the European<br />
Commission and loans from the European <strong>In</strong>vestment Bank. Grants from the Structural<br />
Funds are distributed through the Member States’ national and regional authorities, and<br />
are only available for projects in the 27 EU Member States. All grants for projects in non-<br />
EU countries are managed through the EuropeAid Cooperation agency in conjunction<br />
with various European Commission departments, called "Directorates-General."<br />
The CSEU Tenders Database<br />
The U.S. Commercial Service at the U.S. Mission to the European Union offers a tool on<br />
its website to help U.S.-based companies identify European public procurement<br />
opportunities. The database features all current public procurement tenders issued by all<br />
national and regional public authorities in the 27 Member States of the European Union,<br />
plus four other European countries, and that are open to U.S.-based firms under the<br />
terms of the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) implemented in 1995. The<br />
database is updated twice weekly and is easy to use with a range of search options,<br />
including approximately 20 industry sectors. The database also contains tenders for<br />
public procurement contracts relating to structural funds. Readers may access the<br />
database at [http://www.buyusa.gov/europeanunion/eu_tenders.html]<br />
EU Structural Funds<br />
The EU Structural Funds, including the European Regional Development Fund, were<br />
created in 1975 to assist economically depressed regions of the European Union that<br />
required industrial restructuring. The EU earmarked EUR 308 billion for projects under<br />
the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund programs for the 2007-2013 period for the<br />
EU-27. <strong>In</strong> addition to funding economic development projects proposed by Member<br />
States or local authorities, EU Structural Funds also support specialized projects<br />
promoting EU socioeconomic objectives. Member States negotiate regional and<br />
“sectoral” programs with officials from the regional policy Directorate-General at the<br />
2/15/2008 <strong>Country</strong> Commercial Guide for France 128<br />
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE,<br />
© 2007. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.
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