BEIJING — The bilateral trade volume between China and France surpassed $60 billion, hitting a record high last year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOF) said on March 21.

The bilateral trade volume saw a 15.5-percent increase to $62.9 billion, with France’s exports of agricultural products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and luxury clothing seeing fast growth, MOF spokesperson Gao Feng told a news conference.

For the first two months in 2019, the bilateral trade volume grew 19.4 percent year on year to $10.6 billion. China’s imports of goods from France grew 42.2 percent, said Gao.

In terms of investment, France is the fourth largest country in the European Union (EU) to invest in China and ranks third in attracting Chinese investment in the EU.

In 2018, the direct investment from France to China grew 28 percent, while investment in reverse went up 12 percent.

By the end of January this year, the total investment between the two countries exceeded $40 billion.

According to the MOC, China and France have kept deepening cooperation in traditional industries such as nuclear, aviation and automobile industries, while actively expanding cooperation in emerging industries including environmental protection, elder-care and finance.

In the future, China would like to work with France to deepen cooperation in the traditional fields and expand cooperation in agriculture, finance and elder-care industries, Gao said.