Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with French President's Diplomatic Adviser Emmanuel Bonne in Beijing on Tuesday.
The two sides exchanged views on practical economic and trade cooperation between China and France, and economic and trade relations between China and the European Union (EU).
He, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that there is broad room for improvement in China-France economic and trade cooperation.
He added that China is willing to continue to work with France to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen practical cooperation in all economic fields and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
Noting that China and the EU are important economic and trade partners, He said that China is willing to continue dialogue with the EU in the economic and trade field to inject more stability and positive energy into the development of China-EU economic and trade relations.
Bonne said that France attaches great importance to economic cooperation with China and is willing to work with China to continuously achieve positive results in the EU-China trade and investment consultations, and maintain the stable development of economic and trade relations between the two sides.
Chinese vice premier meets French president's diplomatic adviser
Officials and industry insiders have called for greater efforts to ensure the vast resources of the African continent can truly deliver industrial growth and provide much-needed employment as deals worth billions of dollars have already been struck at the 2026 African Energy Week (AEW) in South Africa's Cape Town.
The five-day event officially opened on Tuesday, with South Africa calling for stronger energy cooperation across the continent to maintain affordable and abundant energy supplies amid global geopolitical tensions and market disruptions.
First held back in 2021, the AEW event serves as a key platform for discussions on energy investment, market access and industrial growth, bringing together stakeholders to shape a shared vision for Africa's energy future.
Optimism is high among attendees given the sizable agreements which have been signed so far and are set to deliver numerous landmark projects across Africa.
"This year at AEW, we have already seen 10 billion dollars worth of deals. Angola for example where we have seen EduEnergias take over some of the legacy assets given by Chevron. We also seen Senegal makes significant announcements around gas projects in that country. And the same thing is [happening in] Nigeria around what AMNI is doing and getting more gas for Train 7 [LNG Project]. We're looking at the Morocco-Nigeria pipeline which is also going to be asking for significant investment dollars that in itself phased, is going to require far beyond the 10 billion dollars that I said," said Verner Ayukegba, senior vice president of the African Energy Chamber.
From drilling technology to companies looking to invest in new projects, the scale of the industry is on full display. But many say the case for attracting investment goes far beyond just extracting oil and gas, with some pointing to the positive knock-on effect which can come in an economic sense. Godfrey Moagi, CEO of the South African National Petroleum Company, said the question is now about how nurturing resources can create jobs and ultimately support wider growth.
"We've got a very big opportunity. We're [going to add] more data centers, you've got a lot of gas, you need a lot of energy. And I think we are going to have to do that to deal with unemployment. Just [conducting] exploration and extracting that gas and oil brings unemployment down, but actually imagine now, if we actually get [related] industries, it becomes very powerful," said Moagi.
Deals struck at African Energy Week must create jobs, advance industrial growth: participants
