French Pavilion at 2024 CIFTIS aims to explore more partners in China

France, the guest of honor at the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), is using its national pavilion as a platform for its companies to explore new cooperation opportunities in the Chinese market.

Focusing on the theme "Choose France," the pavilion's design highlights unique charm of the European country, showcasing French cultural characteristics and draws inspiration from iconic French landmarks, such as the Arc de Triomphe, successfully catching the eyes of visitors.

The pavilion will also hold a string of activities by centering on three themes including healthcare, sports and the attractiveness of France, in an effort to carry out exchanges with Chinese enterprises.

"France is a creative and innovative country. It has renowned expertise in the field of services. French companies are open to promoting in the Chinese market and cooperating with Chinese companies. It's a very important opportunity for us to showcase France and the expertise of French companies. France had the honor to host athletes and visitors from around the world this summer, and especially a significant Chinese delegation which performed very successfully during these games. This is yet another key area of collaboration between our two nations," said Pascal Gondrand, Commercial Counsellor at the Embassy of France in Beijing.

Another scaled-down version of Paris' landmark building in the national pavilion is the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, with French companies putting up booths in the arch of the bridge to showcase their advanced products in the fields of sports, living arts, business event planning and financial services, according to Gondrand.

"It's to connect with people, obviously to connect for potential opportunity of business, also to know better what are the new innovation on the service industry. If they open up more, it's always better for us, so that's good," said Inès Ginon, president of GL events Greater China, a provider of integrated solutions and services for events operating.

France is China's third largest trading partner and third largest source of actual investment in the European Union, and China is France's largest trading partner in Asia and seventh largest in the world.

Over the 60 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations, their economic and trade relations have continued to heat up, and France attaches great importance to cooperating with China in cultural and tourism industry and looks forward to promoting more two-way exchanges and improving the well-being of the people in both countries, Gondrand noted.

Themed "Global Services, Shared Prosperity," the 2024 CIFTIS opened in Beijing on Thursday and will run through Monday.

This year, 10 companies including L'Oreal and Schneider Electronics, are participating in the French Pavilion to showcase their high-quality cooperation with China in event management and operation, cultural and tourism services, green economy, medical and health services, insurance and legal services.

French Pavilion at 2024 CIFTIS aims to explore more partners in China

China's sharp countermeasures against U.S. "reciprocal tariffs" demonstrate the country's zero tolerance towards actions that undermine the global multilateral trading system, according to an expert.

Amid widespread opposition, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order on the so-called "reciprocal tariffs", imposing a 10-percent "minimum baseline tariff" on all imported goods and higher rates on certain trading partners. The order took effect from Saturday.

For China, it faces a 34-percent tariff from the United States. That was on top of the existing tariff of 20 percent.

Following the U.S. decision to impose "reciprocal tariffs" on Chinese exports to the United States, China's Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said Friday that the move taken by the U.S. does not conform to international trade rules, seriously undermines China's legitimate rights and interests, and represents a typical act of unilateral bullying.

It also announced that China will impose additional 34-percent tariffs on all products imported from the United States starting from April 10.

Wang Yaojing, assistant professor of economics with Peking University, pointed out that China's countermeasures shows its clear stance in opposing unilateralism and protectionism.

"China's countermeasures clearly demonstrate zero tolerance against actions that seek to undermine the global multilateral trading ecosystem. These harmful moves have far-reaching consequences for the global economy. And China's countermeasures are both well-prepared and timely," Wang emphasized.

China’s countermeasures show zero tolerance towards US unilateralism, protectionism: expert