China, France find 42 points of agreement in dialogue

China and France agreed to deepen economic and financial cooperation, especially in the manufacturing, agricultural and financial service industries, to jointly cope with the impact of the novel coronavirus and facilitate global economic recovery, the News Office of the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.

The two sides achieved 42 points of consensus during a high-level bilateral dialogue concluded earlier this week, including deepening international and multilateral cooperation to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and jointly developing major projects, some of which are in the manufacturing and aerospace industries, the ministry reported in a statement answering questions from media.

A virtual conference of the 7th China-France High Level Economic and Financial Dialogue was held on Tuesday, co-chaired by Chinese Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua and French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. 

China and France agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in fighting the disease and ensure trade channels for epidemic prevention materials are unimpeded. The two sides will gradually resume personnel exchanges at all levels, and jointly maintain the stability of the industrial chains and supply chains, the ministry said.

The two sides will deepen cooperation in major projects such as manufacturing and aerospace, expand third-party market cooperation, innovate new cooperation modes in new fields such as agriculture, finance and green economy, and drive more small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in cooperation, according to the statement.

"China will continually push forward the high-level opening up and welcome more investment from French enterprises and financial institutions. And the French side agreed to continue to open up trade and investment, provide non-discriminatory treatment to Chinese enterprises, and maintain a fair, transparent and predictable business environment," it said.

As a result of the dialogue, the two countries agreed to accelerate strategic cooperation in the fields of civil aviation and nuclear energy, deepen cooperation in space science and technology and relevant applications and expand cooperation in the third-party market, according to the ministry.

China welcomes more agricultural products and food from France in China's market, and supports France and Europe in building international finance centers. The two countries will jointly promote the usage of the RMB and the euro in bilateral trade and investment, it said.

China also welcomes financial market infrastructure and banks from France to access the Cross-border Inter-bank Payment System, and French representatives agreed to support companies to cooperate with China UnionPay on acceptance of UnionPay cards, the statement indicated.