French business leader sees opportunity for emerging countries

Impressed by China's organizing the B20 Summit, L'Oreal France President Loïc Armand said he saw opportunities in the emergence of emerging countries, energy transition and the digital revolution.

"I listened very carefully yesterday to the important speech of President Xi Jinping, and I must say that I feel very comfortable with what he said. He told us that he had three objectives," said Armand, who heads the subsidiary of French cosmetics giant L'Oreal Group, as well as being group senior vice president for institutional affairs.

Armand took part at the B20 Summit in Hangzhou as the president of the European Committee of the Mouvement des entreprises de France, or the "Movement of the Enterprises of France". MEDEF is the largest employer federation in France.

Armand said he agreed with the objectives President Xi Jinping noted during his keynote speech, made at the opening ceremony of the Business 20 Summit on Saturday, which will bring peace and global partnership for global win-win collaboration, as well as global economic governance.

"We are happy to see China sign the Paris Agreement yesterday. ... That's a great achievement. Because China is a very important part of the solution," Armand said, referring to the international agreement to curb climate change.

He also supported the fourth part of Xi's speech, which said the G20 and the B20 should go from a mode of crisis response to long-term development.

Armand said he felt the current situation opens opportunities in many areas, such as the emergence of emerging countries, energy transition and digital revolution.