Chinese sign €14 billion contracts
President of China Hu Jintao heads to Nice today, where he has reportedly taken over 100 rooms and suites at Negresco
FRANCE is signing contracts reportedly worth €14 billion during the visit of Chinese president Hu Jintao.
Mr Jintao arrives in Nice today, after being given red carpet treatment and an escort of mounted Republican guards in Paris yesterday where President Sarkozy met him at Orly airport.
Following talks at the Elysée yesterday, Mr Jintao signed the first of a package of deals which represent €14 billion investment according to the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs. The rest are being signed today at the Medef headquarters in Paris between the Chinese Minister of Commerce and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, while Mr Jintao jets to Nice, where he will continue talks with Mr Sarkozy. The biggest contracts concern orders for Airbus, Arriva and Total.
According to news magazine Marianne, the Chinese president decided personally to visit Nice, where he is staying until his departure from France tomorrow. He reportedly asked for 180 rooms in the five-star Negresco, but had to settle for 100 out of its 140 rooms and suites.
The visit coincides with an announcement by China that it plans to double its commercial exchanges with France over the next five years, bringing the total to about €60 billion a year. France and China are trying to make up for the diplomatic frostiness that ensued over a 2008 visit by the Dalai Lama to France.
About 300-400 people protested in Paris about human rights in China, demanding the release of literary critic, human rights activist and democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo, this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. China said this subject would not be on the agenda. NGOs have criticised France for agreeing not to raise human rights and arranging no press conference with the Chinese president.
Photo: http://www.kremlin.ru/
