Emmanuel Macron arrived in China with about fifty business leaders, including the leaders of Areva, Airbus, Safran and EDF. He stressed the importance of the “strategic partnership” with China: “We must structure relations in terms of intellectual property, structure greater access to the Chinese market, allow Chinese investments in France and open data reciprocally. . ”
France and China have signed an agreement providing for the construction by Areva of a nuclear fuel reprocessing center in China. This colossal project, providential for the French group specializing in the civilian atom, is valued at least ten billion euros.
This “Memorandum for a Trade Agreement” paves the way for 10 years of delicate negotiations between Areva and its Chinese partner CNNC, state giant of the civil atom.
Emmanuel Macron announced that the EPR reactor, built by EDF in southern China, should start in about six months.
Macron said that “”China is pursuing its economic development strategy and, given the size of this market, it has an impact on the whole globalization. The duty of France is to understand these movements. This supposes a strong France: if France does not know how to adapt, it will be erased.”
