国内英语新闻:Top Chinese legislator calls for close Sino-Franco trade partnership

The third, Wu said, is to improve the environment for investment and trade.

"China has established a complete market-oriented economic system following reforms and opening-up over the last 30 or so years," he said.

The protection of intellectual property rights has been increasingly strengthened in China, Wu said, adding that the market has played a fundamental role in allocating resources.

The general duty level in China has dropped from 15.3 percent in 2002 to 9.8 percent in 2010, which is the lowest among developing countries, Wu said.

"A fair and open market competition environment has become mature day by day," he said.

China and France have done a lot of work in improving investment and trade environment, Wu said.

He urged both sides to continue improving market environment, facilitating bilateral trade and investment, strengthening cooperation between medium- and small-sized enterprises and enlarging the scale of bilateral trade and investment.

Wu also urged the EU to recognize the status of China's market economy as early as possible, turn around discriminating import control policies against China, and ease high-tech products export bans.

He also emphasized the need to insist on free trade principles and oppose any form of trade protectionism, adding that both countries should give full play to the Joint Sino-French Trade and Economic Committee as well as other mechanisms to properly handle problems surfaced during working with each other and to create good and more convenient environment for trade cooperation.

France is the first leg of Wu's three-nation Europe tour, which will also take him to Serbia and Switzerland.