Sino-French Economic Seminar OpensThe 2001 Sino-French Economic Seminar opened Monday in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.More than 500 government officials, mayors, experts and entrepreneurs from the two countries including former French Prime Minister Raymond Barre attended the event, which is sponsored by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the provincial government of Sichuan and the French Embassy in China. During the two-day seminar, the participants will discuss environment protection, city planning, and infrastructure construction. Barre said that the seminar will promote economic cooperation and exchanges between French enterprises and local companies in the province. Last year, trade between China and France reached 7.66 billion US dollars, 14 percent up on 1999. France has become China's fourth largest trading partner in Europe. The first Sino-French economic seminar was held in 1995. France has invested in 1,720 projects valued at 5.75 billion US dollars across China. |
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