Former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, who is also former President of the Constitutional Council, on Friday called for deepening cooperation between China and France as he highlighted the two countries' longstanding friendship and shared commitment to multilateralism and peaceful development.
Noting that both nations play significant roles on the global stage and share similar views on international order, Fabius said that it is particularly important for the two to uphold international law and resist unilateral domination by any single country.
"There is a long-standing and profound traditional friendship between China and France. More importantly, China and France share significant common ground in our views on the world order. We both advocate safeguarding multilateralism. We do not believe that any one country, relying solely on its own strength, can dominate and control the entire world. On the contrary, we believe that international law must be respected first, and that every country should view the world from a global perspective," he said.
"Considering the important positions and different characteristics of China and France in the world, strengthening cooperation between the two sides is particularly necessary -- especially in the field of climate, including global climate governance rules as well as technological innovation. Our engineers, scientists, business communities, and ordinary citizens all need to enhance exchanges and cooperation," he noted.
Former French PM calls for deeper China–France cooperation
Former French PM calls for deeper China–France cooperation
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has hailed the growing educational and cultural exchanges his country is enjoying with China, highlighting the role of Confucius Institutes and Chinese-funded infrastructure in building a stronger skilled workforce.
Mahama was speaking in an exclusive interview with the China Media Group (CMG) which aired on Friday. The Ghanaian President visited Beijing back in October to attend the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women, and also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip, with both leaders stressing the long history of friendship between the two nations.
In the CMG interview, Mahama said that the three Confucius Institutes established in the cities of Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast are helping to cement exchanges and open up new opportunities for young people, noting that the enthusiasm for learning Chinese is rapidly spreading across Ghana, reflecting a broader cultural and educational engagement between the two sides.
"[When students return from training programs in China,] they come back with the skills that they acquired in China. And there's a good colony of Chinese speakers. And so it's interesting, when Chinese companies come in and establish industries, sometimes they don't need to bring Chinese people to Ghana, they find a pool of Ghanaians who are qualified and can speak Chinese. So it makes it very easy for them to employ them and be able to carry out their work," Mahama said.
He also drew attention to China's contribution to Ghana's higher education sector, singling out the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in the Volta Region, which is helping nurture a new generation of medical professionals.
"The campus of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, that's training a lot of doctors, paramedics and other specialists. [It] was funded by China and that is one of our public universities that has a good reputation and is performing very well. And that was based on friendship," Mahama said.
Ghanaian president hails deepening cultural, educational exchanges with China
