The 23rd Meeting of China-France Trade and Economic Joint Committee was held in Beijing on May 15. Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng and French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development Laurent Fabius co-chaired the opening ceremony, and Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen and the Director-General of the Department of National Treasury of the Ministry of Economy of France Bruno BEZARD co-chaired the meeting.
Gao said the China-France Trade and Economic Joint Committee was established 40 years ago when Comrade Deng Xiaoping visited France. In March 2014, President Xi Jinping made a historic visit to France and both sides decided to start a close and long lasting comprehensive strategic China-France partnership. The responsible departments in charge of trade and commerce from both sides should make full use of the mechanism, make active efforts to implement the consensus reached by leaders of both sides and strive to promote steady development of bilateral trade and economic relations. Firstly, efforts will be made to further dig out potentials to expand the scale of bilateral trade. Secondly, work will be done to upgrade bilateral cooperation in new areas and will be done to cultivate new growth points. Thirdly, efforts will be made to innovate the joint cooperation modes and to develop the third party markets.
Fabius said the French side attaches great importance to the bilateral negotiation mechanism in trade and economic areas founded by Mr. Deng Xiaoping. The French side appreciates the MOFCOM for much work it has done to promote the bilateral trade and economic relations development, and he hoped the two sides will further the cooperation in emerging areas such as the ecological parks, medical health, financial service and the third party markets on the basis of traditional areas of nuclear power and aviation.
At the meeting, the Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen and the Director-General of the Department of National Treasury of the Ministry of Economy of France Bruno BEZARD exchanged in-depth views on both concerns regarding bilateral cooperation in nuclear power, aviation, agricultural produce trade, ecological park, and medical health areas as well as the China-France joint efforts to develop the third party markets.
