France to boom economic, trade co-op with China

17 january 2013

DEAUVILLE, France — France looks to strengthen dynamic economic and trade cooperation with China, with the focus on green economy, French ambassador to China Sylvie Bermann said Thursday.

On the sidelines of the eighth Women’s Forum Global Meeting in Deauville, northwest France, Bermann highly commended the Chinese-French relationship in domains of politics, culture and economy, and expressed wishes to further cement trade ties and facilitate investment enough to harness lucrative business opportunities in both countries.

Solid relation, hopeful cooperation

Relations between France and China have been excellent since they started a long time ago, the Bermann told Xinhua in an interview on Thursday.

“Our relations are good in political field because we have the same security concerns, so we have a very close conversation on that,” she added.

Bermann mentioned that French exports to China grew by 22 percentage points last year, but “we want to have more exports to China”.

“We have a huge trade deficit and we would like to find solutions to rebalance our trade relations,” she stressed.

Reminding strong Chinese-French partnership in aerospace, nuclear and auto manufacturing businesses, the ambassador pointed to the need to strengthen cooperation in innovative sectors.

“I would insist on green economy and sustainable development,” she said.

Cooperation can also be expanded to other sectors such as agriculture, financial services, architecture and health, “because France has very good expertise and it’s a priority in China,” she said.

In addition, Bermann expressed her satisfaction with culture exchanges, saying that “we are two countries in which culture is very important and we have the most important French festival in the world being held in Beijing.”

The ambassador called for more reforms to attract French investment as Paris “would like to have the possibility to invest more in China”.

She considered the two-way investment a win-win solution for both sides and called for more Chinese investment in France. “There are some fiscal advantages concerning research and development and we have very qualified workforce. We think there should be more Chinese investment in France. For the time being, the Chinese companies in France are employing 7,000 people but Japanese companies are employing 60,000,” she said.

Meanwhile, she stressed that “China should facilitate the access to the market and respect intellectual property”.

France, Europe’s second largest economy, was handicapped by spiralling debt crisis and slow growth, adding more risks to weight on the country’s economic partnerships.