12 April 2012 – Medef International had seen great for the opening, on April 11, of the seminar organized in Paris in the framework of the first Franco-Saudi business forum (April 10-12): nearly 600 business leaders were registered, three French ministers, Nicole Bricq (Foreign trade), Pierre Moscovici (Economy and finance) and Arnaud Montebourg (Productive recovery) were present, as well as large bosses of the CAC 40, like Christophe de Margerie (Total), Luc Oursel (Areva), Henri Proglio (EDF). All punctuated by the signing of three investment licenses in Saudi Arabia for Legrand, Bull and SIA Advice.
In turn, the three ministers called on Saudi operators to invest in France. Sign of their willingness to work “on an equal footing” with Saudi Arabia, François Hollande had reserved his first visit to this country as President of the Republic in the Middle East in November 2012.