Chinese vice premier meets French finance minister

BEIJING - Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli met here on Tuesday with French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, who is in Beijing to attend a high-level economic dialogue.

Zhang said China places great importance on expanding relations with France. He said Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Francois Hollande reached important consensus on advancing a new type of all-round strategic partnership between China and France when they met in April.

Under the initiative of the heads of state of the two countries, the first China-France high-level economic, fiscal and finance dialogue was held in Beijing on Tuesday.

Zhang said the success of this dialogue will help build a stronger partnership between China and France.

The vice premier told his guest that China has developed a general plan for comprehensively deepening reform. He said China's reform and opening up will provide new cooperation opportunities for France and other countries.

According to Zhang, China and France share huge potential for cooperation in trade and the economy. He expressed hope that the two sides can improve their joint work in the areas of nuclear energy, aviation, space, fiscal policy and finance. He suggested that they actively expand cooperation into such areas as sustainable city development, new energy, medical service, agriculture and information.

Moscovici expressed readiness to deepen cooperation with China in the macro-economic, fiscal and financial sectors and expand two-way trade and investment.