Excerpt:
The French government, anxious to attract some of the Gulf-based investment currently flowing to London, is promoting Islamic finance, offering it a more accommodating legal and fiscal framework in France.
Economy Minister Christine Lagarde, recently addressing Gulf investors, pledged to take steps "to make (their) activities as welcome in Paris as they are in London and elsewhere."
Analyst Emmanuel Volland of the ratings agency Standard and Poor's noted that this was "the first time that a representative of the state has said publicly that she is favourable to the development of Islamic finance.