China and France sign 17 cooperative agreements

Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomes visiting French President Francois Hollande in Beijing, Nov 2, 2015.[Photo/Xinhua]

Seventeen documents were signed between Chinese and French government bodies, institutes and companies on Monday to enhance cooperation in areas including nuclear energy, aerospace and electricity.

The ceremony was jointly witnessed by President Xi Jinping and visiting French President Francois Hollande.

China National Nuclear Corporation, China Atomic Energy Authority, China Huaneng Group and China Datang Corporation have signed agreements to boost ties in nuclear energy and electricity cooperation.

JD.com, one of China's leading online-shopping platforms, has also signed an agreement on intelligent logistics.

The two countries have made a joint declaration, with both agreeing that a global climate change pact should require countries to increase emission cuts every five years.

China firmly supports France in hosting the UN climate change conference beginning late this month, and hopes that the summit in Paris could achieve overall and balanced results, Xi said while meeting with Hollande.

"We would like to make joint efforts with France to make the climate change summit successful," Xi said.

Hollande said the declaration was a "major step" towards an agreement in Paris and his visit to Beijing is "historic".

"With this declaration, we have set up conditions which open the way to success and I am minded to believe that an agreement is now possible," he said.

Peng Shuyi, a researcher in European studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that apart from climate change issues, economic and trade cooperation is also an important topic of Hollande's visit to China.

As a big power of the European Union, France has lagged behind Britain and Germany in both economic development and boosting ties with China, and as a result, the French government expects cooperation with China could be enhanced, she said.

Zhang Ji, vice director of the French Studies Center with Shanghai-based Fudan University, said that as the first Western country to have established diplomatic relationship with China, France has played an important role in the relationship between China and Western countries.

"Premier Li Keqiang's announcement on climate change, which was made during his visit to France in July, has also shown China's firm support to the summit," he said.

According to the French embassy in China, the main topic of Hollande's visit is the upcoming United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris. Some 80 top officials from across the world, including Xi and US President Barack Obama, will participate.

Before arriving in Beijing Hollande had visited a Sino-French water treatment company in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality. A number of French entrepreneurs as well as officials from foreign affairs, environment and finance sectors are in his delegation.

Wang Qingyun contributed to this story.