Wanda Group agrees biggest ever project in Europe with France's Auchan

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda, speaks at a news conference for the opening a Wanda movie park in Wuhan, Hubei province, in this December 20, 2014 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

Wanda Group announced a 3 billion euro cultural, tourism and commercial centre to be built next to France's Charles de Gaulle airport, the Chinese conglomerate's biggest ever project in Europe.

Working with Auchan, the French retail giant, the project will provide work for 20,000 people during its construction and development phase, and employ 14,000 when it is up and running.

The complex will be built on an 80 hectare site, with the buildings covering 760,000 squarfe metres.

Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin, China's richest man, held a meeting with France's President Francois Hollande to discuss the project, which has the support of both French and Chinese governments.

When finished the complex will contain an indoor/outdoor theme park, a performance area, hotels, a business centre and a conference centre.

Charles de Gaulle airport lies just over 30 kilometres from the centre of Paris and has road, rail and bus links with the French capital.

To contact the reporter: chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com