REPORTAGE
While Emmanuel Macron, during a visit of several days in China, tried to seduce the Chinese investors, some of them already make the eyes soft to France, like Jian Chen, a chief of company that hopes to set up in Maubeuge, in the North. A 150 million euro operation that could create 300 jobs.
High end textile products
The businessman wants to install a center for manufacturing textile products and upscale clothing. A kind of "Chinese showroom", says Arnaud Decagny, the mayor of Maubeuge. "Inside this project, there will be clothing workshops, to create or finalize the models." And this investor wants to rely on French know-how in high-end textile, to distribute its products throughout Europe. "Our commitment is to provide the jobs needed to develop these products," says the mayor.
Sector officials will travel to Shanghai next week to meet Jian Chen and sign the partnership. "The interest is that it is locals who are hired to work in these workshops," insists Arnaud Decagny. "Otherwise, it would not make much sense." The mayor of Maubeuge also responds to his detractors, who are anxious to see the arrival of a foreign entrepreneur.
"It's not public money, it's someone who comes to invest his money to create value and develop," said the elected, who refuses to "shrewd". "The inhabitants would blame us for not doing the maximum to accommodate such investors on our territory," concludes Arnaud Decagny, pleased with the windfall for his municipality.