French PM eyes more investment between China, France

BEIJING - French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve eyed more investment between China and France during his visit to Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, from Wednesday to Thursday.

Cazeneuve paid an official visit to China from Feb 21 to 23. Wuhan was his second stop after Beijing.

Jiang Chaoliang, Party chief of the province, welcomed Cazeneuve and his delegation.

Jiang said Hubei and France had established close collaboration in various sectors including environmental protection, finance, technology and motor. He hoped to promote regular, long-term bilateral exchanges and further deepen economic and trade cooperation between Hubei and France to achieve mutual benefits and development.

In Wuhan, Cazeneuve visited the Sino-French eco-city, initiated in Paris during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to France in 2014.

He said the eco-city project was a good example of bilateral cooperation in sustainable development and would play a significant role in promoting the Sino-France comprehensive strategic partnership.

Cazeneuve also invited more enterprises in Hubei and other parts of China to invest in France.

Hubei is France's top investment destination in China. At the end of 2016, there were 157 French-invested companies in Hubei, with a contractual value of $1.1 billion.

During his visit, Cazeneuve also attended the opening ceremony of the Wuhan P4 lab, China's first high level biosafety laboratory to study class four pathogens (P4), and planted a tree representing Sino-France friendship.