Wu Bangguo (L), chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, addresses the Chinese-French forum on economic and trade cooperation in Paris, capital of France, July 9, 2010. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)
PARIS, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Wu Bangguo, China's top legislator, said Friday that China and France should strengthen their cooperation and build a close, long-term and sustainable type of new economic and trade partnership.
Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of Chinese National People's Congress (NPC), who arrived in Paris on Wednesday for an eight-day official goodwill visit to France, gave a keynote speech at a business forum grouping at least 200 senior French and Chinese officials and business leaders in Paris.
In his speech, Wu reviewed the ties between the two countries since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1964.
He said the Sino-Franco comprehensive strategic partnership charted by Chinese President Hu Jintao and former French President Jacques Chirac in 2004 has turned "a new page" in bilateral relations.
"The Sino-Franco relations have formed a mutually-beneficial pattern that is all-dimensional, wide-ranging and multi-tiered, injecting vitality and energy to the comprehensive strategic partnership," Wu said.
"The trade volume between the two countries has reached 17.12 billion U.S. dollars in the first five months this year, a 40.3 percent increase on the year-on-year basis," Wu added.
France is at present China's fourth largest trading partner within the EU while China is France's biggest trading partner in Asia, he said.
Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, addresses the Chinese-French forum on economic and trade cooperation in Paris, capital of France, July 9, 2010. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)
Wu said the Chinese and French economies are highly complementary to each other and have great potential for more bilateral cooperation.
China and France should develop their trade cooperation from a strategic perspective, exert their advantages and enhance substantial cooperation in line with the principle of mutual benefit and win-win, Wu said.
He laid out a three-point proposal to jointly build a close, long-term and sustainable new-type China-France economic partnership.
"The first is to deepen cooperation on big projects. The economic and trade cooperation between China and France is featured in large number of big and technology-intensive projects in such fields as nuclear power exploration, aerospace and high-speed railway," Wu said.
France is building a third generation of pressurized water nuclear power plants in China's Guanggong province. Airbus A320 airplanes are assembled in north China' municipality of Tianjin. Companies like Alstom are participating in China's Three Gorges Project, and in the construction of high-speed railway and track traffic.
China is willing to continue enhancing cooperation with France in joint research and development as well as design in aerospace, expanding comprehensive industrial cooperation in nuclear power exploration, and increasing technological cooperation in high-speed railways and track traffic, Wu said.
At present, France is investing in almost 4,000 projects in China worth about 9.88 billion U.S. dollars. The direct investment of Chinese firms to France has reached to 1.5 billion dollars.
Wu said China welcomes more and more French investors and encourages competitive Chinese firms to do business in France.
The second is to explore new areas of cooperation, Wu said.
"Nowadays, countries worldwide have prioritized the development of new energy resources, new materials, information network, bio-pharmacy, energy-saving and environmental conservation, low-carbon technology, and green economy in the new round of industrial development," he said, adding that these areas of cooperation should be made the new engines for the Sino-Franco economic and trade cooperation.
This is not only the prevailing trend for upgrading and optimizing the traditional industry but also an important step to cope with global climate change.
China has proposed to reduce its carbon intensity per unit GDP (gross domestic product) by 40-45 percent by 2020 compared with 2005 and increase non-fossil fuels to 15 percent of the primary energy consumption, Wu said.
China would also raise its installed capacity of nuclear, wind and solar power, he added.
He hoped companies of both countries should seize the rare opportunities during this period of economic structure adjustment to deepen and expand their cooperation of mutual benefits.
China and France have agreed to set up eco-parks in China's national economic and technological development zones and have listed the cities of Chengdu, Chongqing and Shengyang as three pilot cities, the chairman said.
The third, Wu said, is to improve the environment for investment and trade.
"China has established a complete market-oriented economic system following reforms and opening-up over the last 30 or so years," he said.
The protection of intellectual property rights has been increasingly strengthened in China, Wu said, adding that the market has played a fundamental role in allocating resources.
The general duty level in China has dropped from 15.3 percent in 2002 to 9.8 percent in 2010, which is the lowest among developing countries, Wu said.
"A fair and open market competition environment has become mature day by day," he said.
China and France have done a lot of work in improving investment and trade environment, Wu said.
He urged both sides to continue improving market environment, facilitating bilateral trade and investment, strengthening cooperation between medium- and small-sized enterprises and enlarging the scale of bilateral trade and investment.
Wu also urged the EU to recognize the status of China's market economy as early as possible, turn around discriminating import control policies against China, and ease high-tech products export bans.
He also emphasized the need to insist on free trade principles and oppose any form of trade protectionism, adding that both countries should give full play to the Joint Sino-French Trade and Economic Committee as well as other mechanisms to properly handle problems surfaced during working with each other and to create good and more convenient environment for trade cooperation.
France is the first leg of Wu's three-nation Europe tour, which will also take him to Serbia and Switzerland.