French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (Left) talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during their meeting in Paris yesterday. (Xinhua photo)

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao held talks on Monday with his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin on deepening the existing comprehensive and strategic partnership between the two countries.

During the talks, the two leaders reached consensus on further strengthening the China-France comprehensive and strategic partnership, which has already rested on a solid basis of the existing bilateral ties, so as to raise the bilateral relations to a higher level.

Wen, who arrived here Sunday for a four-day official visit, spoke highly of the Sino-French ties, saying that the bilateral cooperation has deepened in various fields and achieved substantial results over the recent years.

The premier said that with the further increase in the strategically mutual trust, the two countries understand and support each other over issues of their concern and significant international issues.

Wen said the economic and technological cooperation has further forged ahead between the two countries over the recent years, with a continuos growth of trade volumes.

The activities of the Chinese Year of Culture held in France and the French Year of culture run in China have increased the understanding and friendship between the two peoples, giving a solid push for more cooperation and exchanges in terms of science, education and tourism, he said.

Consolidating and developing the Sino-French ties is not only in conformity with the two countries' needs for development, but also conducive to expediting the development of the Sino-European and Asian-European relations, the Chinese premier stressed.

On the development of the Sino-French ties, Wen put forward a five-point proposal such as timely exchanging views over significant international issues, strengthening the mechanism of strategic dialogue, increasing politically mutual trust, promoting cooperation and coordination in international affairs, and pushing for more dialogues among different civilizations in addition to deepening bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, aviation, transportation, agriculture and environmental protection.

He also said the Chinese side welcomes French enterprises to actively open up markets in China. The two sides should deal with any problems, which may arise in bilateral trade, in accordance with the principle of mutual consideration and mutual concession.

For his part, de Villepin said he agreed with Wen over his assessment of and proposal for the relations between the two countries.

The prime minister noted that the Sino-French ties have been strengthened continuously, with extensive cooperation underway in a variety of fields. The French side attaches great importance to its ties with China, hoping to conduct a long-term cooperation with it in aviation, nuclear energy, railway construction and telecommunication.

He said the French side will push for further development of the French-Chinese ties and strengthen cooperation and coordination with China in terrorism combat, anti-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and UN reform.

After the talks, the two leaders attended a ceremony for signing 16 cooperation agreements between the two countries and jointly met with the press.

Wen, who arrived here Sunday following a visit to the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company and aircraft maker Airbus in Toulouse, a city in southwestern France, met with French President Jacques Chirac and President of the French National Assembly Jean-louis Debre earlier Monday.