WATCH: Jean-Claude Trichet, ex-Bank of France Governor, celebrates the stronger ties

French President Emmanuel Macron has been on a three-day state visit to China, his first to the country since 2019.

On the final day of President Macron's visit, France-based Airbus said it had agreed to sell 50 helicopters to the Chinese leasing firm GDAT.

"We are honored GDAT has decided to bolster their all-Airbus fleet of 26 helicopters with the addition of 50 H160 helicopters," Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters, announced.

"This contract is a great example of the importance of economic and trade cooperation between France and China," Peter Jiang, chairman of GDAT, added.

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CGTN Europe spoke to Jean-Claude Trichet, French economist and former Bank of France Governor to understand the importance of the agreement.

"Airbus is not only a French company, it's also a German company, a Spanish company," he said.

"The agreement proved that the relationship between Europe and French in particular, that Europe more generally and China are here to continue."

An 'active and uninterrupted' relationship

On the significance of the trade relationship between China and Europe in general, and China and France in particular, Trichet added: "It's very important for China, it's very important for Europe and it's very important for the global economy. 

"I think those relationships are very important. Obviously, if we want not only Europe to be prosperous and China to be prosperous, but also the entire global economy to be as active as possible," he added. 

He went on to say that, "They are not decoupling, they are de-risking. None of them said that we would engage in decoupling." 

Trichet highlighted the two leaders did not use the same language "but the derisking approach is something which we have to take into account whatever country you are trading with.

"Because we could see that in certain circumstances, [such as] the global value chain, we are more fragile than we thought. So I'm very happy to say that the relationship between Europe and China will continue to be active and not interrupted."

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