Macron: China to order 184 Airbus A320 planes

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In the past three days, French President Emmanuel Macron has pulled out all the stops to express his willingness to work with the world's second largest economy and he has seen signs for a better bilateral trade relationship, starting with China’s order of 184 Airbus A320 planes.

"On the order for 184 A320s, it's something that will be finalized shortly," Macron said on Wednesday during his state visit.

Macron said Xi had confirmed during their meeting that the Airbus order would be made.

He also said that France had ambitions to sell A350 and A380 planes in the coming weeks or months.

French President Macron at a press conference held in the French Embassy in Beijing on Wednesday /VCG Photo

The value of the deal was not immediately disclosed but under the company's list prices, the single-aisle planes could total at least 18 billion US dollars.

The announcement came a day after Macron held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and oversaw the signing of several business deals whose total amount was not disclosed.

China is the world's second biggest aviation market, making it ripe for competition between Airbus and Boeing.

However, Javier Gimeno, president of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, said the value of such deals “is not the most important part of the trip.”

The most important mission of Macron’s trip to China is to build a foundation for more trade deals in the future, he told CGTN on Wednesday.

Macron said in the speech on Wednesday morning that the relationship with China is a real priority and he would visit China at least once each year, Gimeno noted, adding this is great news for French companies operating in China.

The French Chamber of Commerce and Industry has about 1,600 members doing business in China.

In addition to Macron's determination to build a positive China-France relationship, French enterprises also appreciate China's respect to market share parity between Airbus and Boeing, which symbolizes an equal attitude toward American firms and European corporations.

"President Xi confirmed to me that China will maintain the volume of orders in the coming years and preserve parity with the market shares of Airbus and (US rival) Boeing," Macron said.

Gimeno said that transparency and equality are significant for French companies.

“French firms want to improve the condition of access to China’s market. We need to make different products in terms of competition. What we care about is competing in China’s markets with same condition,” Gimeno said.

(With inputs from Xinhua and AFP)