France is hoping to reinforce its strategic partnership in nuclear energy and aeronautics with China, and also aims to tap into China's huge market for agricultural products, French Minister for Foreign Trade Nicole Bricq said Monday at a press conference during a three-day visit to China.
"We are going to visit the construction sites of Taishan nuclear reactors 1 and 2 in Guangdong tomorrow," said Bricq.
She said that the French European pressurized reactor (EPR) project in Guangdong Province will be the first EPR for power production to be completed, given the postponement of similar projects in Finland and France.
"It will serve as an illustration (of new French nuclear technology) to the whole world," she said.
Areva, a French industrial conglomerate known for its nuclear projects, sold two EPR nuclear reactors to China in November 2007 for 8 billion euros ($10.65 billion), the largest international commercial contract signed in civil nuclear history.
Beijing style: Duck, opera, fog and cough...