Xi, Macron pledge to deepen ties

Beijing   :   Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Thursday pledged that the two countries would jointly implement their consensus on deepening ties and promote multilateralism to build an open global trade system.

In a phone call, Macron congratulated Xi on being re-elected at the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi said that Macron's congratulatory phone call was "an embodiment of great importance that he attaches to China's development and relations with France".

"The coming period of time will be one during which China will continue to deepen reform, expand opening up, achieve greater development as well as make more contributions to the world, the Chinese President said.

He added that he believed China's development will provide more opportunities to China-France and China-EU cooperation.

Macron said he cherished the friendship between the two nations and was willing to join hands with Xi to implement key consensus reached by the two sides on deepening France-China relations.