Sino-French cooperation has resulted in remarkable achievements over the past decade, particularly in the legal and commercial fields, said French Ambassador to China Herve Ladsous.

 

"The two countries have continental law systems and share similar ideologies, such as social harmony and economic security," Ladsous said on the sidelines of a two-day France-China legal seminar held in Beijing, which concluded on Friday.

 

Experts from both sides discussed areas for cooperation at the seminar, including courts, procuratorates, notaries and universities.

 

Wang Gongyi, deputy director of the research office at the Ministry of Justice, said China's Civil Law and Notarization Law had both been influenced by France.

 

"President Hu Jintao included many of these legal concepts in his keynote speech to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Monday," Wang said.

 

"Further legal exchanges and cooperation with France will yield fruitful results as the country quickly builds a nation ruled by law," Wang added.

 

France is one of only three developed countries that has an extradition agreement with China. The two have also signed a judicial cooperation treaty.

 

"It would be a sign of progress if more developed countries signed similar treaties with China," Ladsous said.

 

Legal exchanges between China and France are frequent. To date, more than 100 judges and 50 prosecutors have gone to France to research the country's legal system.

 

Ladsous said there was a great deal of legal cooperation between the two countries, including on commercial, criminal, IPR and administrative laws.

 

Currently, there are 1,800 French enterprises on the Chinese mainland, creating at least 250,000 jobs on the mainland and with annual revenue surpassing US$28.6 billion.

 

Philippe Tuffreau, vice-president of the National Lawyers' Association Council of France, said he was grateful that China had allowed foreign lawyers to launch businesses here and expected further cooperation.

 

"Eventually we need Chinese lawyers to see to our businesses here, just like Chinese enterprises have local lawyers in France to work for them," Tuffreau said.

 

(China Daily October 20, 2007)