Foreign Ministers Of The Belt And Road Initiative Will Attend The Belt And Road Forum

"There are many countries in the world who need infrastructure. China has provided financing to some countries under the framework of the belt and road initiative, and the EU has also provided infrastructure construction assistance to countries through loans and aid over the years. Therefore, there is naturally room for cooperation between the two sides in this field. " Li would like to point out.

On April 17, French ambassador to China Li Xiang announced at a press conference in Beijing that French Foreign Minister Jean Jacques ledrion would attend the second belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum as the special envoy of French President Marco ó n.

Li wanted to express that France is willing to strengthen the docking between the EU connectivity platform and the belt and road initiative. "We are working on a list of 10 projects in the market."

Recently, high-level exchanges between China and Europe have been close. President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have visited Europe in a rare way. During the visit, Italy became the first G7 country to sign the "belt and road" memorandum of understanding with China. As a full member, Greece has joined the China Central and Eastern Europe cooperation mechanism. Since then, "16 + 1 cooperation" has been upgraded to "17 + 1 cooperation".

As for Italy and Greece's goodwill to China, Li wanted to respond to the 21st century economic reporter that as long as the two countries abide by the EU principles, they can independently decide how to develop bilateral relations with China. "We want China to respect the unity, diversity and values of the EU, because we respect China in the same way."

In his view, the declaration adopted by the summit is of great significance to the long-term development of China EU relations. As for why the two sides reached a consensus at the last minute, he told 21st century economic reporter that this requires both sides to respect each other's interests and compromise each other in order to reach a consensus.

Li would like to highlight the consensus on trade reached at the China EU summit. "We are very pleased to note that China has not forgotten that the EU is China's largest trading partner, not the United States, and that the EU is also the region with the most direct investment in China." Li would like to point out that according to the joint statement, China is clearly aware of the important role played by the EU in the reform of the multilateral system. He stressed that "the Sino US trade association agreement cannot be at the cost of (sacrificing) the interests of the EU."

Li Xiang pointed out to the 21st century economic reporter that through the summit, China has shown its importance to the increasingly close economic and trade relations between China and Europe. The negotiations between the two sides have made positive progress in the following three aspects: first, the two sides committed to reach a high-level China EU investment agreement by 2020; second, strive to formally end the negotiation of the geographical indications agreement by the end of 2019; third, the two sides are actively working to sign the China EU agreement on civil aviation safety and the China EU agreement on certain aspects of flights as soon as possible.

China and France have reserved more than 10 projects for third-party market cooperation

When asked why he did not attend the forum, Li wanted to respond that at present, the French president is facing a busy political agenda both at home and in the EU. On the one hand, the months long debate has just ended; on the other hand, the EU is about to hold elections. Therefore, he does not want to leave France in the near future.

However, Li would like to point out that President Marcon has accepted the invitation of President Xi Jinping and decided to visit China again before the end of this year. He also stressed that the French Foreign Minister is a very high-level representative and has visited China five times since taking office.

Regarding the French government's position on the belt and road initiative, Li would like to point out that President Marco ó n delivered a speech in Xi'an during his visit to China last year, in which he spoke highly of the opportunities brought about by the initiative.

"There are many countries in the world who need infrastructure. China has provided financing to some countries under the framework of the initiative, and the EU has also provided infrastructure construction assistance to many countries through loans and aid over the years. Therefore, there is naturally room for cooperation between the two sides in this field. "

Li would like to point out that the third-party cooperation agreement signed by China and France many years ago shows France's confidence in this initiative. He said that France is willing to cooperate with China in the third-party market on the premise of respecting the wishes of the host country.

In terms of third-party cooperation, Li would like to disclose that China and France have already reserved 13 projects. He pointed out that the projects met the high standards that France had always advocated, including meeting the standards of financial sustainability, environmental protection and social responsibility. "These projects will contribute to the local ecological transformation."

China and France deepen cooperation in traditional fields and open up new areas

Li Xiang said that President Xi Jinping's visit to France has been a great success and "deepened cooperation in all bilateral fields". "The heads of state of China and France have a high degree of trust, and there is no issue that can not be raised in the exchange, including sensitive and divergent topics." "This kind of open communication is important," he said. We appreciate President Xi Jinping's open attitude. "

The first is the traditional "old three" areas. On the aviation front, Airbus and China have reached an agreement worth about $30 billion to sell 300 airliners to China. In space, according to the newly signed cooperation document, France will actively participate in China's space projects such as lunar exploration, and the two sides will continue to jointly launch the earth observation satellites jointly developed by China and France. In the field of nuclear energy, the two sides have reiterated their willingness to jointly develop nuclear energy, continue to support the development of China's nuclear energy industry and conduct nuclear energy cooperation in the third-party market.

In addition, Li Xiang pointed out that the two sides also decided to speed up strategic docking and all-round cooperation in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, medicine and health, ecological agriculture and finance, so as to further deepen the integration of industrial interests of the two countries.

Li Xiang also pointed out that since the return of French beef to China, President Xi Jinping has indicated that the Chinese market will be open to French pork and poultry in the coming weeks to months. "This decision is of great significance and reflects the recognition and trust of French agricultural producers."