Guangdong leads moves toward closer ties with France

Since being acquired last year by China International Marine Containers (Group) Co Ltd, the world's largest container manufacturer, a once-bankrupt French airport equipment maker is now bustling with CIMC's orders from Chinese and French airports.

The French company has generated profits, added capacity to CIMC and supplied advanced technology to the group, said Liu Tao, legal counsel of CIMC.

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The deal is just one aspect of the increased trade and investment activity between Guangdong province and France.

Bilateral trade and investment developed swiftly in the past three years, said Huang Zanrong, a partner of Geenen Law Office, speaking on the sidelines of the second Sino-French Business Forum in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Thursday.

Huang said cooperation is set to become even closer, given the complementary nature of the two economies.

Trade between Guangdong and France reached $7.84 billion in the first 10 months of last year.

Guangdong, the most populous province in China, provides a large market for French products. In turn, it can provide some of the foreign investment France wants.

Bruno Bisson, consul general of the French Consulate in Guangzhou, said: "We must all work together so that French industry and Chinese industry can both benefit. We have many areas for cooperation."

France helped build the first nuclear power plant in China in Guangdong three decades ago. Now, the two sides are working together on more such plants in the province, including a third-generation nuclear station in Taishan.

France and Guangdong are also cooperating in the pharmaceutical, alternative energy and waste-processing sectors.

Such cooperation is mutually beneficial and France is attracting Chinese investment with easier administrative and visa processes.

France hopes to receive more Chinese tourists, with only one out of 1,000 Chinese people having visited the country, he said, pledging more help to Chinese travel companies.

European countries, including France, have many small and medium-sized companies that have long wanted to enter the Chinese market, said Yi Qing, president for greater China operations of Comex Holdings Ltd, which is based in France. The company promotes Europe-Asia trade

The group is in the process of selecting a city in Guangdong where it will build a procurement center for European exporters to showcase their products and make contact with potential Chinese buyers, he said.

The group is also building a center in France that will help bring Chinese exporters and their products into the country.

Without many large State-owned enterprises, Guangdong hasn't been among the leading Chinese provinces for investment in France, Yi said. He urged private companies in Guangdong to invest.