China/France - Communiqué issued by the Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industry
Thierry Breton, Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry, had a meeting today with Zhang Xiaoquian, Vice-Chairman of the State Development and Reform Commission.
Building on the French Prime Minister’s visit to China from 21 to 24 April, he talked about what have been identified as the priority areas of Franco-Chinese cooperation in the energy sector (nuclear and conventional), transport (rail and air) and telecommunications.
In the wake of the G7 finance ministers’ meeting in Washington (United States) on 15 and 16 April, he also talked about the economic and international situation and particularly monetary parities.
As regards textiles, he particularly stressed to his interlocutor the importance France attaches to a sector which represents 2.5 million jobs in Europe and 7 million with the inclusion of the Mediterranean countries with which Europe has concluded association agreements. He drew attention to the importance France attaches to the process set in train in Brussels to put safeguard measures in place.
The visit of the Chinese Premier, Mr Wen Jiabao, to Paris in the autumn will be the opportunity to finalize the ongoing bilateral negotiations in the various spheres of economic cooperation which were discussed./.