Located at the heart of France’s hexagonal territory, Auvergne is a sparsely populated land of volcanic plateaus and large valleys. Unlike the Alps to the east or the Pyrénées to the southwest, its highest peaks reach only 6,000 feet above sea level and are free of snow in summer. The local authorities? efforts to safeguard the environment have made Auvergne one of the last protected zones in Europe.
Before going to Auvergne, familiarize yourself with its history and its gastronomy.
France is the world’s number four economic power in terms of GDP. The country’s assets are varied and include its transport and telecommunications sectors, agri-foodstuffs and pharmaceutical industries along with banking, insurance, tourism and the traditional luxury products (leather goods, ready-to-wear fashion, perfumes, fine wines and spirits, etc.).
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Farms: 730,000
Farmers/farm workers: 910,000
Utilized agricultural area: 30,139,000 hectares
Principal agricultural products in France:
National R & D expenditure amounts to 190 billion francs ($38 billion) i.e. 2.5% of GDP.
The public sector finances 51% of it and is responsible for operating (building maintenance, salaries, laboratory equipment) the major national research centres, which include the CNRS (all fields), INSERM (medicine), INRA (agronomy), etc..
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Road network
Densest in the world, longest in the EU with a total of 964,356 km of local, secondary and main roads and motorways, including 7,396 km of motorways (second in Europe).
Rail network
On 1 January 1996, the SNCF (National Railroad Company) was responsible for 31,940 km of track.
SERVICE SECTOR
Financial services
Market capitalization of shares listed on the Paris stock exchange totals 2,400 billion francs ($480 billion), 31.5% of French GDP, ranking Paris fifth in the world.
Four French banks are among the world’s top 25: Crédit Agricole (8th), Compagnie Financière Paribas (20th), Groupe Caisses d’Epargne (21st) and Banque Nationale de Paris (22nd).
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France is the world’s second largest exporter of services and farm products and fourth largest exporter of goods (principally durables); it had a trade surplus of 104.5 billion francs ($20.9 billion) in 1995. French exports stood at 1,427 billion francs ($285.4 billion) in 1995, 22% of GDP. Imports amounted to 1,322 billion francs ($264.4 billion).
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The first humans found in France, known as Homo Erectus, are believed to have lived around 950,000 B.C.
PARIS, Feb 23 (AFP) – Seventy percent of the French say they like Americans but oppose a potential war in Iraq, while 15 percent are opposed to both Americans and the war, according to a poll to in Sunday’s Le Journal newspaper.
Six percent of those questioned said they “like Americans and are in favour of military strikes on Iraq” and 2 percent “don’t like Americans” but would favour military action in the country.
The poll questionned 965 people between February 20-21.
©AFP
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