WIREDGOV

The two-day visit, which commences today (Friday 18 September), has been organised by International Business Wales (the Welsh Assembly Government trade and investment arm).

One of the highlights will be a visit to Abergavenny Food Festival. Penny Fillon, who is from Llanover and went to school in Abergavenny, will join the French visitors at a lunch hosted by the Festival organisers when Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones will also be present.

The Abergavenny Food Festival is acknowledged as an important date in Britain's gastronomic calendar and will form part of the tour designed to present Wales as a dynamic culturally vibrant country that is also home to many leading global companies.

The French business leaders are patron members of the French Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain – the oldest foreign Chamber in London which has almost 600 members, seventy of whom hold patron member status, alongside International Business Wales (IBW). Patron members include Chairmen and Chief Executive officers of some of the largest French companies present in the UK, of which eighteen already have a presence in Wales.

This visit to Wales is being sponsored by Cardiff & Co and Veolia Transport Cymru, Sword, and Sodexo - three French owned companies that have significant operations in Wales with potential for expansion.

The itinerary includes visits to:

The visit also offers guests the option to play golf at the Celtic Manor, home of the Ryder Cup 2010.

In the past eighteen months patron members have participated in two particularly prestigious events organised by IBW:

• a dinner hosted by Prince Charles at Clarence House, and
• a dinner with the First Minister and the French Prime Minister at his Paris residence.

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