The meeting, which took place on 2-3 July, follows the recent presentation of a report to the French government, which recommended improving the dialogue with SWFs, avoiding discriminatory regulations and developing investment criteria to match French businesses and SWFs.

In addition to the QIA and Adia, representatives from the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) attended the meeting with the Minister of Economy, Industry and Employment Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet and representatives of the European Parliament.

France currently holds the presidency of the EU.

Paris is also developing new laws and tax incentives to open up its financial market to Islamic products like sukuk (Islamic bonds) and takaful (Islamic insurance).