Officials from China and France concluded in Paris on Friday the 18th session of the Sino-French Economic and Trade Mixed Commission, after exchanging views on bilateral trade cooperation, the world economic situation, the Doha round of trade talks and other issues of common concern.

The two sides agreed to boost cooperation between China and France or Europe at large so as to meet common challenges, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming told a press conference after the meeting.

China and France will continue their cooperation on major projects in nuclear energy, aviation industry, space science and transportation, Chen said.

The two sides will also promote cooperation in sustainable development, coordinated regional economic growth, and agriculture, and push forward exchanges between small and medium-sized businesses of both sides.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde also stressed the increasing significance of France-China economic cooperation and pledged more efforts in technology transfer.

She also expressed hope that China could go further in environment protection and that the two sides could have more cooperation in the investment field.

Two-way trade between China and France reached 25.6 billion US dollars by the end of August this year, and is expected to top 40 billion dollars at the year end, reaching the goal of doubling bilateral trade volume of 2005 two years earlier.

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2008)