Geoffroy Boulard, mayor of the 17th District of Paris, on Sunday expressed hope for closer collaboration with cities in China.
Boulard made the remarks in a talk with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Paris on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to France.
Xi started his state visit to France on Sunday at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron. France is Xi's first leg of his three-European country tour which will also take him to Serbia and Hungary.
In the talk, Boulard highlighted the potential contribution of Chinese people and entrepreneurs can make to the development of France while recalling a recent meeting with a Chinese delegation.
"Chinese people and entrepreneurs can contribute to the development of France, Paris, our neighborhoods, our start-ups, in particular in terms of innovation. I had the opportunity to meet with a delegation a few days ago from the city of Taiyuan, north of Beijing," said Boulard.
"I received the mayor and a number of directors, and we planned to work on a collaboration between our two cities to better explore the opportunities and then promote the two cultures. This is important in a world where we tend to withdraw into ourselves. It's important to keep this tradition of openness, tolerance and better inter-cultural understanding," said Boulard.
Mayor of 17th District of Paris expects closer collaboration with Chinese cities
The depreciation of Japanese yen has caused an old coffee shop in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture of Japan to suffer rising financial strain due to surging import costs.
The coffee shop, with a 50-year history, is facing fund squeeze. The owner, 82-year-olld Hajime Yoneyama said that the depreciation has led to increased prices for imported raw materials, particularly coffee beans sourced mainly from Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia, resulting in a 20 percent surge in purchase costs.
"The purchase price (of coffee beans) has increased by 20 percent. I feel that the prices of vegetables and oil have also increased by at least 20 percent. Now the prices of these things continue to rise, with no sign of stopping. The expenditure situation of the store may become more severe in the future," said him.
Yoneyama said that he had to raise the prices to sustain the coffee shop's operation.
"Recently we had to raise the price. Previously, a cup of coffee cost 500 yen. It's no longer sustainable (without price increases) and now it's up to 600 yen," said the owner.
Furthermore, in an effort to cut costs, the elderly Yoneyama works with just one employee, yet the store business kept crippling. He said that a significant portion of his pension funds is used to cover store expenses and employee wages.
Locals worry that if the weak yen trend persists, the pressure on livelihoods will further intensify.
"The prices of everything are increasing, food, drink, vegetables. It would be great if there was a solution. Medical supplies are also an issue that needs to be considered. I do worry about what the future will bring," said a local resident.
"Not only are labor costs rising, but gas costs are also rising, so operators need to cut expenses, such as advertising expenses, and the work that they originally paid to hire people to do may now be borne entirely by the operators themselves," said another resident.
Japan’s time-honored coffee shop face fund squeeze due to weakening yen
