Premier Li Keqiang and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls held a phone conversation on May 12 and exchanged views on further improving relations and pragmatic cooperation in a variety of fields.

“The two had a successful exchange of visits last year, and the mutual strategic trust of both countries has been enhanced,” said the Premier, adding that France stays in the forefront among EU countries in conducting pragmatic cooperation with China, especially in areas of nuclear power, aerospace and finance industries.

Premier Li expressed hopes to continue implementing agreements reached by the two sides from a strategic and long-term perspective, and raise the bilateral ties and cooperation to a new stage.

Premier Li stressed that the joint exploration of third-party markets is a strategic decision made by the two sides based on mutual trust and complementary advantages.

“Cooperation of this kind has paid off in areas of common fund, cooperation mechanism and first batch of projects,” said Premier Li, who expected that the two countries will join hands and continue to explore third-party markets in nuclear power industry, strive to expand cooperation realms, and promote mutual benefit and win-win results.

Premier Li also said that China’s economy is operating in a reasonable range, and positive changes have taken place in its economic structure.

“Though the global economic recovery lacks momentum and economic transition and upgrades in China face multiple difficulties and challenges, China will continue to adhere to the reform and opening up, and make efforts to achieve the main targets of development this year with confidence,” said the Premier.

The Premier added that China’s economic fundamentals and long-term trend for the better remain unchanged, which is conducive to the promotion of bilateral cooperation in tapping third-party markets.

During the phone talks, Valls spoke highly of the favorable development of Sino-French relations in the past year, adding that the French government was inspired by the sustainable and stable development of China’s economy promoted by the Chinese government. Currently the economic situation in France is improving with increasing stability, which is conducive to strengthen cooperation with China, Valls said.

The third-party market cooperation between China and France is a new cooperation model co-created by the two sides, Valls added. The French government is willing to work with the Chinese government to implement the consensus and make use of mutual strengths to achieve pragmatic results through cooperation.