Emmanuel Macron,

French president

When Xi met with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, the two leaders agreed to bring bilateral ties to a higher level and renewed their pledge to safeguard multilateralism.

Next year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China-France diplomatic ties, and China is willing to work with France to bring their comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level and work for greater progress in the development of China-Europe relations, Xi said.

Xi said the two sides will push forward cooperation and expand two-way trade and investment.

The two sides will firmly safeguard multilateralism, strengthen communication and coordination on major global issues, including climate change, reform of the World Trade Organization and the Iran nuclear issue, Xi said.

Referring to Friday’s three-way meeting of China, France and the UN on climate change, Xi said the event sent a positive signal, adding that China hopes to enhance cooperation with France within the G20.

France is willing to increase high-level exchanges with China and push forward cooperation in areas such as nuclear energy, aviation and tourism, said Macron, adding that France welcomes more Chinese investment and hopes its exports to China will grow.

France is willing to work with China to jointly uphold the multilateral free trade system and push the international community to abide by and implement the Paris Agreement on climate change and promote the development of Europe-China relations, he said.