Shanghai mayor Gong meets French ambassador

Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng met Laurent Bili, French ambassador to China, in Shanghai on December 7.

Sino-French relations have continued to develop in a healthy manner, and bilateral trade has maintained a good momentum of development in recent years, Gong said.

Shanghai is an important link for friendly exchanges between China and France. It has frequent exchanges and interactions with French sister cities, according to the mayor. During the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic this year, Shanghai has continued to cooperate with France in medical and health care fields and achieved positive results. As China’s largest economic center and the frontier window of reform and opening up, Shanghai is unswervingly expanding its opening up in an all-round way. “We are willing to work hand in hand with France to promote mutually-beneficial cooperation between Shanghai and France to a deeper level and in broader areas,” he said.

“Shanghai is a city much loved by the French. This year the Shanghai Consulate General also celebrated its 40th anniversary. It is great to see that Shanghai’s epidemic prevention and control action has achieved remarkable results, and French-funded enterprises have been able to resume work and production in a short time, Bili noted.

Bili said he hoped to continue the good cooperation with Shanghai and will work to push the friendly relations between China and France to a new level.

French Consul General in Shanghai Benoît Guidée also attended the meeting.