国内英语新闻:China, France to enhance parliamentary exchanges

BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Li Zhanshu Wednesday attended via video link the opening ceremony of the 11th meeting of the parliamentary exchange mechanism between legislative bodies of China and France.

Both sides agreed to enhance parliamentary exchanges to contribute to the development of relations between the two countries.

Li, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, addressed the opening ceremony and called on both sides to uphold the spirit of "independence, mutual understanding, great foresight, and win-win cooperation" to create a brighter future for bilateral relations.

Noting that China and France are comprehensive strategic partners with broad common interests, Li said that the legislative bodies of both countries have played a unique role in pushing forward bilateral ties.

China's NPC and the French National Assembly have maintained steady and regular exchanges through the mechanism since it was established in 2009.

Li said the NPC stands ready to work with the French National Assembly, under the guidance of the strategic consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries, to safeguard China-France political mutual trust, strengthen dialogues at all levels and deepen legislative exchanges in fields including economy and trade, investment, finance, environment, health and social security.

Li called for giving full play to the functions and advantages of legislatures to promote the alignment of development strategies of the two countries, strive to provide legal guarantees for the implementation of bilateral agreements and large project cooperation, and create a broad platform for bilateral friendly cooperation.

The two legislatures should enrich and expand exchanges and cooperation between their friendship groups, promote dialogue and exchanges between NPC deputies and parliamentarians of the French National Assembly in specialized fields such as science and technology, education, culture, health, youth, and women, and tell well the story of bilateral friendship, according to Li.

The two sides should strengthen communication and coordination, and jointly safeguard the international system with the United Nations as the core, the international order based on international law, and the multilateral trading system with the rules of the World Trade Organization as the cornerstone, said Li.

Richard Ferrand, president of the French National Assembly, said that France-China relations are of crucial importance. The French National Assembly is willing to play a positive role, strengthen cooperation under the exchanges mechanism, and contribute to the long-term, stable and healthy development of France-China relations.

Chen Zhu, vice-chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, also attended the opening ceremony.