Vice Premier Wu Yi said in Beijing Tuesday that China hopes to further expand Sino-French exchanges and cooperation in science and technology.  

"China needs French technology, and France needs China's market," Wu said while addressing the opening ceremony for the 11th China-France Economic Seminar. She said the two sides could achieve a win-win result through cooperation in technological trade and investment arena.

Wu spoke highly of the achievements made by the seminar in the past ten years. She expressed her belief that the seminar would continue to serve as a platform for Chinese and French business community to establish exchanges and cooperation to promote technological development and innovation.

Wu said that Chinese government attaches great importance to the technological innovation work and hopes to promote the country's technological upgrading process.

French enterprises have unique advantages in fields such as energy, aviation and telecommunication, Wu said, noting that France has become a very important source country for China to introduce advanced technology and pivotal facilities.

China and France have made remarkable achievements in fields of space exploration, aviation, nuclear power, railway and liquid natural gas transportation, Wu added.

Chinese official statistics showed that China-France trade boomed in recent years. The two way trade volume reached US$17.6 billion in 2004, and at the end of 2004, the two countries had already signed 2,313 technological transfer contracts, valued at US$12.2 billion.

Wu stressed that the all-round strategic partnership between China and France has maintained a very good momentum of growth and the bilateral political mutual trust has been strengthened.

According to Wu, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin will visit China soon and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will visit France later this year, highlighting that China has always regarded Sino-French ties in a strategic perspective.

China intends to further cement the all-round strategic partnership with French based on the two China-France joint statements signed by the heads of the two states, Wu said.

Former French President Velery Giscard d'Estaing also told the seminar that the French business community values friendly cooperation with China, expressing the hope that seminar would help the two business communities establish profound understanding of the cutting-edge technologies in telecommunication, environment and transportation fields.

The seminar was co-hosted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and French France-China Committee and has been successfully held annually since 1995.

(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2005)