Premier Li: China-France cooperation has huge potential

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Europe

03:00

Sharing the good foundation of bilateral relations, China and France have huge potentials to unlock, and the relationship between the two is always the example for other European and Western countries to follow.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made the remarks while holding a joint news conference with French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Monday after their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The two leaders also witnessed the signing of cooperation documents involving areas such as energy, science, technology, agri-food, medicine, and health.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, June 25, 2018. /Photo via Gov.cn

On the energy sector, China and France reached a consensus to strengthen cooperation in nuclear areas. The two leaders agreed that they should speed up the signing of the documents in nuclear fuel reprocessing.

"China and France are highly complementary in these products and areas as we almost signed the technical discussion part while working on the policies," Li said.

Also, China and France agreed to expand the cooperation of trade liberation and facilitation as unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise.

August 25, 2015: A label reading "French beef meat" is seen on a meat product in a supermarket during a visit of the French minister of agriculture as part of the "Viandes de France" (French meat) national day in Paris. /VCG Photo

The two signed a contract to import beef from France to China, lifting the ban which was imposed over a decade ago as Beijing started closing off its markets to all European imports, and later to US beef imports, in the wake of the "mad cow" disease scare.

"China would like to open the market wider to buy more French agriculture products that suitable for Chinese markets and will speed up efforts to make more Chinese consumers purchase and enjoy higher quality beef and agricultural products from France," Li added.

On science, the two sides reached a consensus in aviation cooperation as China is always the biggest buyer of airbuses and aircraft overall, with a large number of airbuses running and operating in the country.

Airbus A350 is displayed in Beijing, November 2, 2016. /VCG Photo

China is willing to strengthen cooperation with the French Airbus, which can provide great support to China's aviation market, such as its pilot training program. China will thus continue to discuss the airbus contract with the French side and sign it in a suitable time.

"China takes a positive attitude to cooperating with France," said Li.

Philippe echoed Li's stance on bilateral cooperation, saying that strong ties between the two countries can promote world peace.

June 25, 2018: French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe speaks to China's Premier Li Keqiang during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. /VCG Photo

"France and China have to tackle challenges, especially like global warming, everyone knows how serious the problem is. We are deeply committed to tackling this issue. For environmental protection, we need to establish a pact to tackle this issues. Against the backdrop of protectionism and unilateralism, we must work together in promoting globalism. We have confirmed that our partnership is very strategic," Philippe added.

Besides the fields above, the two leaders also agreed to drive cooperation on cultural exchange.

Philippe is on a four-day visit to China since last Friday, which is also a rare official overseas trip for this head of government, who has been focused on pushing through domestic reforms since his appointment in May 2017.

(CGTN's Su Yuting also contributed to the story.)