Macron Announces 30-billion-euro Plan To Re-industrialize France
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published October 12, 2021 | 05:32 PM
President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday announced a plan worth 30 billion euros ($35 billion) to re-industrialize France, saying the country should reclaim its crown as a global leader in innovation
Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Oct, 2021 ) :President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday announced a plan worth 30 billion Euros ($35 billion) to re-industrialize France, saying the country should reclaim its crown as a global leader in innovation.
Speaking at the Elysee Palace six months before a presidential election and one month ahead of a UN climate summit, Macron said France had taken key decisions "15-20 years later than some of our European neighbours" and now needed "to become a nation of innovation and research again".
The spending was to address "a kind of growth deficit" for France brought on by insufficient investment in the past, he told an audience of company leaders and university students.
France, he said, needed to return to "a virtuous cycle" which consisted of "innovating, producing and exporting and in that way finance our social model" as part of a new "France 2030" plan.
Over the next decade, France would aim to become a global leader in green hydrogen, which companies and governments are increasingly putting at the centre of efforts to de-carbonise economic sectors that rely most on fossil fuels for their energy needs.
Macron singled out steel production, cement and the chemical sector, as well as truck, bus, rail and air transport.
He said that following the Covid-19 pandemic, "which put us face to face with our vulnerabilities", France had to work towards French and European productive autonomy.
France also needed to invest heavily in medical research, Macron said.
After the global Covid outbreak, French pharma giants were unable to come up with a vaccine, unlike biotech startups BioNTech and Moderna.
The aim was now for France to develop "at least 20" biotech drugs against cancers, as well as against emerging and chronic illnesses, including those associated with ageing, Macron said.
"We need to concentrate all our efforts on this objective," he said.
- A new revolution - A French presidential official, who asked not to be named, said Macron had laid out the plan in the wake of the Covid crisis "which showed our vulnerability and our dependence on foreign countries in some key sectors but also the importance of innovation which can change everything." French officials believe that France needs to act rapidly to close the gap and not surrender more ground to emerging powers, notably China.
French carmakers, which Macron said had suffered "cruelly" over the past 30 years, should redirect their efforts towards cleaner vehicles, with a target of putting two million electric or hybrid cars on the roads.
Macron said France would also invest 1 billion euros by 2030 in "disruptive innovation" to produce atomic power, notably by designing small-size nuclear reactors with improved nuclear waste management.
Disruptive innovation was also needed in agriculture, where two billion euros would be earmarked for new technologies, he said, especially in robotics.
France should start "a new revolution" in food production which should be "healthy, sustainable and traceable".
This would also rely on investment in "three revolutions" which he said were digital, robotics and gene technology.
Agriculture would become cleaner, phase out "some pesticides", enjoy greater productivity and develop "bio-solutions" that would be "more resilient and more solid", the president said.
Macron's plan also called for a boost in French deep sea exploration over the next decade.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Selection committee dissolved over Pakistan women cricket team's poor performanc ..
Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz in police uniform at Chung police center
Currency Rate In Pakistan - Dollar, Euro, Pound, Riyal Rates On 25 April 2024
Today Gold Rate in Pakistan 25 April 2024
Mired in crisis, Boeing reports another loss
Session Awarding Ceremony 2024 held at Cadet College Muzaffarabad
Austrian ski great Hirscher to make comeback under Dutch flag
Pakistan, Japan agrees to convene 'Economic Policy Dialogue'
FM Dar conveys deepest sympathy on torrential rains devastation in UAE
Spain PM Sanchez says weighing resignation after wife's graft probe
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 1st update
Long-lost Klimt portrait auctioned off for 30 mn euros
More Stories From World
-
Myanmar to hold 59th gems emporium next month
11 minutes ago -
Digital economy contributes 8.4 pct to Philippine economy in 2023
11 minutes ago -
China committed to supporting Zimbabwe's innovation-driven development
11 minutes ago -
Starfish control program improving health of Australia's Great Barrier Reef: report
11 minutes ago -
Pakistan calls for addressing development changes at a key UN meeting
21 minutes ago -
Advanced 5G base station launched in Mt. Qomolangma
21 minutes ago
-
Cambodia on right track to achieving malaria-free goal by 2025: PM
21 minutes ago -
Endrick sparks Palmeiras comeback in Copa Libertadores
21 minutes ago -
Hyundai Motor's operating profit falls 2.3 pct in Q1
21 minutes ago -
The Myanmar 'water brothers' salvaging shipwrecks on the tide
31 minutes ago -
Togo's legislative elections: What is at stake?
41 minutes ago -
US Supreme Court to hear Trump immunity claim
1 hour ago