Forum. France is not a country naturally exporter, unlike the United Kingdom or Germany. This is the reason why the governments after the war, in parallel to the programme for national recovery, have created the French Center for external trade (CFCE), the French Bank of external trade (BFCE) and the public procedures of the French Company of insurance for foreign trade (Coface).
The ambition was to bring, in the long term, the share of exports in GNP to the same level as that of its major competitors
The objective of this program was to provide to the companies of the interviewees clearly identified to help them to penetrate foreign markets. The CFCE informed firms on promising markets. The BFCE proposed to the exporters of capital goods credit at subsidized interest rates (the so-called ” mixed credits “) to compete including u.s. exporters. Coface, through the insurance prospecting, préfinançait the research of new markets and ensured the guarantee of the great contracts against political risks.
The ambition was to bring, in the long term, the share of exports in GNP to the same level as that of its major competitors. The exporters considered the system reliable, stable and efficient. It was headed by the minister of foreign trade, full-year, and with a separate administration, the department of foreign economic relations (DREE), represented in the province by the regional directorates of foreign trade (SUCKS) and in the embassies by the body of business consultants, of whom two-thirds were composed of contractors from the private sector, and therefore natural interlocutors of the exporters.
Achilles heel
Today and for the last fifteen years, foreign trade has become the Achilles heel of the French economy. The deficit increases year after year. This is due in large…
