China and France have agreed at a regular bilateral meeting to extend cooperation on environmentally friendly economic development, supporting less wealthy nations and fighting COVID-19 pandemic.

Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua and French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire co-chaired the eighth China-France High-Level Economic and Financial Dialogue on Monday via video link. 

Hu said that, under the guidance of the two heads of state, practical cooperation between China and France has made new and positive progress, bilateral trade has reached a record high, two-way investment has grown rapidly, agricultural cooperation has achieved remarkable results and cooperation in emerging areas has made steady progress.

China stands ready to work together with the French side to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen cooperation on international and multilateral affairs in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in key areas, said Hu.

The two countries should consolidate and expand cooperation on major projects, and strive to create a good environment for trade and investment to push China-France cooperation to a higher level and inject new momentum into their bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership, said the Chinese vice-premier.

Another area of agreement was over the importance of alleviating the debt burden on developing nations, with Hu pledging that China was ready to take up a greater role and consider restructuring some debt.

Le Maire, for his part, said that France attaches great importance to the bilateral ties, and is willing to work with China to further deepen economic and financial cooperation.

France is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with China on multilateral issues including the response to climate change, biodiversity protection and the WTO reform, said the French minister.

France is hoping to deepen cooperation with China on agriculture, finance and the third-party market, and promote bilateral pragmatic cooperation to achieve additional positive results, he added.

The two sides reached 54 items of agreement.

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