国际英语新闻：France, Germany unveil ten-year cooperation blueprint

PARIS, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- France and Germany unveiled Thursday a ten-year blueprint on cooperation, dubbed Franco-German Agenda 2020, consisting of 80 political and economic cooperation measures after the 12th Franco-German Minister Council in Paris.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel co-presided the meeting in Elysee Palace and held a joint conference after the meeting.

The ten-year plan published after the meeting covers cooperation ranging from diplomatic policy, security and defense coordination, economic and fiscal initiatives, environment protection and biological diversity, including cross-border " electro-mobility" program for electric cars, joint bureaus dedicated to reproducible energy, bilingual kindergartens and further aeronautic co-operations.

"The financial crisis forced us to understand each other better ... Now we have decided to take it to another level," Sarkozy said in the joint press conference with Merkel.

He said France and Germany determined to strengthen their alliance with the hope to reinforce European Union's common policy and to serve the world's new regulation.

With these specified measurements, "we have an ambition to make Franco-German alliance as concrete as possible," Sarkozy underlined.

Eighty provisions means heavy work should be taken, Merkel said. Developed countries should take the responsibility to promote sustainable development, concerning which German-Franco cooperation represents remarkable significance, she added.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the two sides said both of them would be committed to tackle "new challenges as the fight against climate change, the economic and financial imbalances, threats to security and peace."

"We do everything to implement sustainable development and to include the principle of sustainability as a guideline of our common shares," said the statement outlining the 10-year blueprint.

Since 2003, the regular plenary session of Franco-German Ministers is held in spring and autumn in the two countries alternately and co-chaired by French president and German chancellor.

The two sides usually use the important mechanism of bilateral consultation to unveil mid-term cooperation plans.