During President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to China earlier this week, French and Chinese companies signed contracts worth an estimated $14 billion, in the food, agriculture, luxury products, aeronautics and energy sectors.

Car drivers in Europe's crowded inner cities will be familiar with the Indigo logo in the streets. The french company, is the world leader in parking lots, developing sites in 11 countries, and is now eyeing a share of China's emerging car parking industry signing a partnership with Sunsea.

Benjamin Voron, the company's head of communications, attended this year's China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. 

He said: "This second edition of CIIE was impressive by the number of companies and countries present, and also by the great number of innovations and the energy of this expo and of China, which is, of course, an enormous country and a crucial market."

Over the last 10 years, car ownership in China has increased by 10% every year. "Yet there are half as many parking spaces per car in China as there are in Europe. So mobility and parking needs are phenomenal. We want to be active on that market, with Sunsea," Voron added. 

"Sunsea already knows the market and the world of parking. We bring in our know-how on street parking or underground car parks, but also our experience with local concessions."

Indigo will also advise Chinese cities on how to reduce urban congestion, anticipating the trend of connected and autonomous vehicles. In a large number of European cities, Indigo also offers alternatives to cars, with bike-sharing programs, electric scooters and services at parking lots.

"We now have an ideal Chinese partner. Our partnership can play a leading role in supporting the development of individual mobility in China. All we just need to do now is to accompany cities and drivers for tomorrow's challenges," Voron said. 

The first two projects Indigo will work on are so-called on-street parking licences. In the cities, Zhaoqing and Zunyi, the joint venture with Sunsea won the bid to control and regulate parking in the streets. 

But that's just the beginning, according to Voron: "Every year, no less than 20 million Chinese people move to the cities. We are lucky to have these two long term contracts now. Of course, we are very eager to sign contracts with other Chinese cities."