Iceland

Political relations

Bilateral relations have traditionally been excellent, with broad agreement, particularly as regards environmental issues and combatting global warming.

Economic relations

French-Icelandic cooperation is currently growing (France is Iceland’s 13th largest supplier and 6th largest customer). Over 60% of French imports involve fish and its by-products (another major sector is metal products), while transport equipment comprises 31% of French exports, excluding aviation.

Major investment is planned in the areas of health, education and transport infrastructure, which could generate opportunities for future trade relations. Furthermore, tourism is now increasingly important in French-Icelandic relations. France is the fifth largest source of tourists (over 100,000 French tourists visited in 2017, representing 4.5% of foreign visitors).

In addition to existing cooperation in the area of geothermal energy, Iceland has invested in a range of sectors in France, including Marel in Brittany, a global leader in fish and poultry processing, Össur, specialists in orthopaedics which acquired Gibaud in the Lyon region, and Kerecis, an Icelandic start-up which develops fish-skin grafts used for tissue regeneration.