1. Bilateral Trade 

According to the General Customs Office of China, the total volume of bilateral trade between China and France in 1999 amounted to US$6.71 billion, which was 11.2% more than that of the last year. It reached US$5.98 billion from January to October 2000, 11.2% more than that of the same period of the year before. Out of this figure, China's export reached US$3.01 billion, increasing 29.4% as against that of the proceeding year, its import amounted to US$2.96 billion, 2.9% less than that of the previous year.

2. Financial Cooperation

Up to the end of June 2002, China and France had signed a total of 23 financial protocols and two agreements on grant. The total amount of government loans pledged by the French side was approximately 2.57 billion euros. The two sides had arranged 133 loan projects in total. France was one of the countries that have provided largest amount of government loans to China.

3. French Investment in China

The French investment in China focuses mainly on the fields like energy, automobile, chemistry, light industry and food processing. Up to the end of 2001, there were 1,870 projects with French direct investment in China. The contracted investment was approximately US$6.26 billion and the capital actually invested was US$5.03 billion, ranking third among the EU countries. In 2001, there were 150 projects with French direct investment in China, and the contracted investment was US$510 million, and the capital actually invested was US$590 million. From January to June 2002, there were 69 new projects with French direct investment in China, and the contracted investment was US$528 million and the capital actually invested was US$240 million.

4. Economic Agreements

The two sides signed Shipping Agreement, Air Transport Agreement, and the Long-term Economic Cooperation Agreement, Agreement on Avoidance of Double-taxation, Agreement on Investment Protection and Agreement on Intellectual Rights Cooperation. They also established Mixed Commission on Economics & Trade as well as that for Cooperation on Agriculture & Agricultural Food.

(Chinese Foreign Ministry January 17, 2004)