The Fifth Arab-French Economic Summit kicked off on Thursday in the French capital, Paris, with the aim of defining a common vision for the future of economic relations between Arab countries and France.

The summit, under the patronage of French President Emmanuel Macron, includes three geographical roundtables in the form of plenary working sessions: The first for the Maghreb countries, the second for the Levant countries and the third for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Figures show that over the last 22 years, 790 French companies have carried out 1364 projects in Arab countries, with an investment cost of $126 billion, with 58% of the activity concentrated in the coal, oil, gas and renewable energy sectors and 80% in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

The summit is co-organised by the Arab-French Chamber of Commerce, the Union of Arab Chambers and the Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, with the support of the International Chamber of Commerce and the French Employers’ Confederation.