China France Photo:VCG

China and France reiterated their joint approach to multilateral and global issues on Saturday, as established during French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to China and reflected in the joint presidential statement. China's Ministry of Finance stated that the two countries will continue to deepen mutually beneficial economic and financial cooperation.

During the China-France 9th High-Level Economic and Financial Dialogue held in Beijing on Saturday, co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of Economy, Finance, and Industry and Digital Sovereignty, the two sides reached a slew of consensus, including enhancing cooperation on finance, agricultural trading, and civil aviation.

The two sides commit to granting fair and non-discriminatory conditions of competition for companies, particularly in the fields of cosmetics, agriculture and agrifood products, health (medical equipment, vaccines), air traffic management, finance (banks, insurance, asset managers), energy, investments and sustainable development, read the statement.

In the field of the digital economy, including 5G, the French side commits to continue granting a fair and non-discriminatory treatment of license applications from Chinese companies on the basis of the laws and regulations, including those relating to national security of both countries.

Both sides support the progressive resumption of air connectivity in a coordinated manner between civil aviation authorities. Airlines of both sides will enjoy fair and equal possibilities/opportunities in the operation of flights between the two countries.

Also, in accordance with the "from the French farm to the Chinese table" initiative, France and China shall keep working on market openings, export facilitation, and custom processes optimization, and will explore the strengthening of e-commerce cooperation for agri-food products businesses from both countries. In the short run, they will open market for maize and dehydrated alfalfa, and extend market access for pork products.

The two countries acknowledge the need for protection of data, especially personal data. They also agree that the requirements for data protection should be proportionate to the sensitivity of the considered data, that data regulation should be predictable and that its costs should be manageable. Both sides are willing to engage in discussions on cross-border data flows in the fields of finance, transport, healthcare, environment, retail, and on solutions such as allowing the usage of the parent company's cloud or mutualizing clouds between foreign banks.

In addition, China and France recalled their strong and long-lasting cooperation in the financial sector, and wish to further strengthen it.

Both sides encourage cooperation between their securities and futures regulators bilaterally in areas of common interest such as enforcement and within multilateral frameworks. In addition, they also value cooperation and exchanges between their financial institutions, including banks, insurers, securities firms, fund managers, asset management companies.

This dialogue has contributed to building a consensus in preparation of the celebration in 2024 of the 60th year of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Global Times