Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to France has been warmly welcomed by French diplomats, politicians and business leaders, who said the visit will deepen bilateral cooperation and contribute to world peace and prosperity.
Xi is currently on a state visit to France, which started on Sunday, at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.
"Obviously, this is a very important visit because this year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and China. The two countries have important bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade, nuclear energy, aerospace and so on," said Sylvie Bermann, former French ambassador to China.
"We need to talk to each other to resolve major international issues, especially current world conflicts. Through listening to each other and the different opinions of other people, we can find common ground to advance world peace. The Chinese president attaches great importance to world peace," said Vincent Louault, a French senator and vice-president of the French Senate's France-China Group.
Business leaders said the visit sends a signal to French companies to increase investment in China and help China unleash its new quality productive forces - driven by revolutionary technological breakthroughs and deep industrial transformation and upgrading.
"It's the projection in the future, and it's obviously the invitation to our France and French company and to food companies to come and invest in China. I was delighted to hear President Xi welcoming investments in the agribusiness, welcoming people like Danone that are working at unleashing new productive forces in China," said Antoine Bernard de Saint-Affrique, CEO of the Danone Group, a world leading food company.
"China has made great efforts to shift to green industries, using low-carbon energy sources such as solar, wind and nuclear power. When I saw mountains in China were covered with photovoltaic panels, I felt quite impressed. China is one of the few countries that is extremely serious about tackling climate change. I think the cooperation between France and China is beneficial to each other," said Brice Lalonde, former French environment minister.
Xi's visit warmly welcomed by French diplomats, politicians and business leaders
