Strong productivity, higher research spending and rising numbers of skilled migrants helped France remain the third most popular destination for foreign investors in 2006, Christine Lagarde, French trade minister, said yesterday.

Foreign direct investment inflows averaged an annual €32.4bn ($41.5bn, £22.3bn) from 2003 to 2005, according to an annual study of 10 countries published by the French agency for overseas investment. But France slipped from fifth to sixth place for inward investment measured as a proportion of GDP.