The Choose France Forum is one of the French government’s most ambitious investment promotion initiatives — and it doesn’t confine itself to Paris. Organized through Business France, the national agency for French economic development, the Forum brings senior French government and business figures directly to major American business centers, including Chicago, to make the case for France as a destination for U.S. foreign direct investment.
Chicago’s edition of the Forum typically takes the form of a private business breakfast, bringing together C-suite and VP-level executives from Midwestern companies across sectors including advanced manufacturing, logistics, fintech, life sciences, and energy. The format is deliberately intimate — designed to spark genuine bilateral conversations rather than deliver one-way presentations.
The France proposition is increasingly compelling: a reformed business environment since the Macron administration’s structural changes, leadership in nuclear energy and green hydrogen, a world-class research ecosystem, and the largest network of bilateral investment treaties in Europe. For Midwest manufacturers evaluating European supply chains post-Brexit, France has emerged as a cleaner regulatory entry point than ever before.
Events like the Choose France Forum in Chicago are how sovereign economic diplomacy actually happens — not in press releases, but over breakfast, with the right people in the room. businessfrance.fr