Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivers a speech to the National Council of French Employers in Paris yesterday. Wen arrived in France Dec. 4 for a four-day official visit. (Xinhua Photo)

Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Monday that China and France have been enjoying the best development of bilateral ties ever, and called for further cooperation between the two countries.

In a speech to the National Council of French Employers, Premier Wen, who is here for a four-day official visit, said China and France have made great progress in economic and trade cooperation in 2005, and it is possible the total volume this year will top 20 billion US dollars.

Noting that France has become China's second largest technology cooperation partner in the European Union (EU), third largest source of direct investment and China's fourth biggest trading partner, Wen outlined four new features in Sino-French economic and trade cooperation.

Firstly, the strategic cooperation between the two countries has been highlighted.

China has strengthened its cooperation with the EU and France in the Galileo program, and cooperation with France in the fields of biological technology, aviation and space industry has been fruitful.

Secondly, the cooperation scope has been broadened.

In addition to their sound cooperation in the fields of aviation, the space industry, energy and railways, economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has expanded into the fields of agriculture, the environment, high and new technology and telecommunications.

Thirdly, cooperation between the small and medium-sized enterprises in the two countries has been increased.

In 2005, France has pressed ahead with the government-sponsored program of "1,000 PMEs (the French abbreviation for small and medium-sized enterprises) into China", under which a large number of France's small and medium-sized enterprises visited China. Meanwhile, China's small and medium-sized enterprises also held trade talks in Paris.

Fourthly, the two-way investment of the enterprises in the two countries and the development of their cooperation are taking shape.

The merger of China's TCL Corp television business with France's Thomson SA and Alcatel Mobile Phones Limited, and a new global handset company jointly set up by TCL Communication Technology Holding Limited (TCL communication) and France's Alcatel, have set good examples for the internationalization of Chinese enterprises, the Chinese premier said.

Wen thanked all those businessmen and enterprises who have contributed to the development of the economic, trade cooperation between the two countries.

On the future development of bilateral cooperation, Wen proposed that the two countries further strengthen their cooperation and improve mechanisms for dialogue.

The premier first urged the two countries to consolidate and enhance cooperation in the high-tech field.

Wen said while China is willing to step up collaboration with France in the fields of nuclear energy, aviation and railway projects, the country wants to further boost bilateral cooperation in space technology, biological engineering and information technology.

On investment, the premier said that as China is seeking a comprehensive development of the country's western regions and rejuvenating the industrial bases in the northeast, the country is providing plenty of new investment opportunities for French enterprises.

"We welcome French enterprises to invest in China and also encourage those qualified Chinese firms to seek development in France," said the Chinese premier.

In his speech, Wen also called on the two countries to raise the level of cooperation in the service sector. He said that among the more than 160 sectors of the service industry specified by the World Trade Organization, China has opened over 100 and is proceeding with the opening of banking, insurance, securities and distribution sectors.

"France has apparent advantages in the modern-day service sector and there's huge potential for cooperation in this field with China," said Wen, adding that China is also seeking to alter the growth mode of foreign trade by encouraging the export of services.

On promoting the cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises, Wen said the potential is great, as France has some 2.4 million such firms while the figure for China is as high as eight million.

"Small and medium-sized enterprises have their unique advantages in providing job opportunities and China is to create better development environment for these enterprises," the premier said.

Wen expressed the hope that small and medium-sized enterprises in both China and France will be able to fully utilize the current platform of cooperation and seek further improvements.

On improving the mechanism for dialogue, the premier said the two countries need to further build the mechanism for consultations and properly handle trade disputes arising from the growing bilateral trade.

"China is in support for free trade and is actively promoting free, convenient trade and investment," noted the premier.

He said China hopes to resolve trade disputes through equal consultations and is opposed to frequently resorting to trade restrictions.

On trade imbalance, Wen said China is not in pursuit of a trade surplus. He called on developed countries to ease restrictions on technology transfers as a way to reduce the imbalances.

The Chinese premier expressed hope that trade volume with France could be doubled in five years to hit 40 billion US dollars while bilateral all-around cooperation could be significantly enhanced.

France is the first leg of Premier Wen's five-nation European-Asian tour, which will also take him to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Malaysia.

Wen will also attend the ninth Summit between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the First East Asian Summit in Kuala Lumpur.