(ECNS) -- French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna will pay a two-day visit to China starting Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced the news at a press conference on Wednesday.
This is the French foreign minister's first visit to China since she took up the post in May 2022.
During Colonna’s visit, Chinese Premier Li Qiang will meet with her. She and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, will hold the 6th meeting of the China-France high-level dialogue mechanism on people-to-people exchanges and attend the side events. The two foreign ministers will also hold talks and jointly meet the press, according to Mao.
This will be the first time for China to hold a meeting of dialogue mechanism on people-to-people exchanges with a European country in recent years, Mao mentioned.
The spokesperson said that China and France are both permanent members of the UN Security Council and independent major countries. At present, under the joint leadership of the two heads of state, bilateral relations have enjoyed sound growth.
Mao noted that the two sides have had frequent high-level exchanges, made steady progress in exchanges and cooperation in various fields and maintained sound multilateral communication and coordination. The two countries have also worked together to respond to global challenges, she added.
Next year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and France. It is also the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism. Both sides are planning a series of relevant activities, the spokesperson said.
“China looks forward to working with France to deepen exchanges on bilateral relations, especially cooperation in education, culture, technology, health care, sports and other areas between the two countries, promote cultural mutual learning and people-to-people friendship and add new impetus to China-France relations,” she added.
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