China and France should accelerate bilateral cooperation in emerging fields, said Lu Shaye, Chinese ambassador to France, in Paris on Monday afternoon.
Lu held a joint interview on Monday afternoon with several mainstream media from China and other countries, briefing the press on Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to France and answering some questions.
When asked about bilateral cooperation between China and France over the past six decades after the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1964, Lu said that China and France have achieved fruitful results in cooperation in many fields such as nuclear energy, high-speed rail, aerospace, agriculture, food, and medical care, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples.
"At present, China and France stand at a new historical starting point for their national development. China has been accelerating the construction of a new development paradigm and focusing on promoting high-quality development, facing major issues such as cultivating new quality productive forces, building a modern industrial system, comprehensively promoting rural revitalization, and promoting coordinated regional development. France is also facing important tasks such as energy transition, digital transformation, and coping with an aging population. The two sides should accelerate cooperation in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, digital economy, green manufacturing, sustainable development, and the silver economy," Lu said.
At the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron of the Republic of France, Xi will pay a state visit to France in the beginning of May.
Chinese ambassador calls for accelerated China-France cooperation in emerging fields ahead of President Xi's state visit
Severe floods are continuing to wreak havoc in southern Brazil, with several thousands of residents displaced after buildings were submerged.
Residents of Eldorado do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, one of the areas hardest hit by the floods, are in limbo as they have been forced to evacuate their homes, unsure of when they'll be able to return.
Valdinei de Borba and his family chose to stay put, guarding their remaining belongings against potential looters. However, the rising floodwaters paint a grim picture. Once the water recedes, they say Eldorado do Sul will no longer be home as the floods have shattered their sense of security.
"A friend of mine told me 20 years ago this would happen, and we didn't believe it, but it's happening. I think it will happen because the river passes here, it goes all around. It's not the river that is off its course; it's us who are in the river, so the situation is going to get worse. We believe this is happening because of the climate situation. We are preparing to leave. We will not stay," said Valdinei de Borba.
With Rio Grande do Sul reeling from the latest floods, geographers are using drones to create highly precise maps of the inundated areas, aiding critical rescue and relief efforts.
"There is imprecision for them to know whether they need to go by boat or by land. In this regard, we are trying to improve this, the flood area, to facilitate their work. What we empirically observe, and studies have proven, is that we will increasingly have a sequence of events with greater intensity and frequency," said Dilermando Cattaneo, a geography professor at Rio Grande do Sul Federal University.
Porto Alegre, another Rio Grande do Sul city, is striving for carbon neutrality by 2050. But officials recognize that global decarbonization efforts might not fully prevent the consequences of climate change already underway.
"There are a number of projects to encourage this shift in the energy matrix and transportation, and at the same time, work on the agenda of adaptation, resilience of the city. Because we are indeed going to have more and more extreme events, with intense heat, landslides, storms and rains. And unfortunately, this is what we have been experiencing here in Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul," said Germano Bremm, the environment secretary of Porto Alegre
According to a recent government report, nearly nine million people living in nearly 2,000 Brazilian cities face a high risk of flooding and landslides. And there are growing concerns about the safety of these populations as climate change makes extreme weather events more frequent and severe.
Floods continue to wreak havoc in southern Brazil, force evacuation of residents
