At the invitation of President Hu Jintao, French President Jacques Chirac paid a state visit to China from October 25th to 28th, 2006.  The Sino-French Joint Declaration entitled: "Building a Safer, More Prosperous, Harmonious and United World with Common Efforts" was published on October 26th.  The Joint Declaration stated that China and France will take action in the judicial area and integrate legal cooperation into the respective areas of bilateral cooperation areas and the two countries will further deepen the cooperation in the intellectual property area and strengthen the protection for intellectual property.

 

Confronted with the current complicated and versatile international situation, and being the countries that bear important international obligations, the establishment of the long-term and stable bilateral relationship between China and France will be conducive to the building of a safer, more prosperous, harmonious and unified world.  Therefore, the heads of the state of China and France agree in the Joint Declaration that actions should be taken in the political, Sino-EU relations, judicial, security, economic cooperation and humane areas.

 

The Joint Declaration pointed out the heads of the state of the two countries believe that the Sino-French Joint Declaration published in 1997 and 2004 respectively serve as the guiding principle and the lasting driving force for the friendly relationship between China and France.  And the two countries have decided to deepen their all-round strategic partnership.  Both sides agree that on the sound basis of the results achieved in the exchange and training of lawyers, judges and witnesses, legal cooperation will be incorporated into the relevant areas of bilateral cooperation.  And the two countries will deepen their cooperation in the intellectual property area and strengthen the protection for intellectual property.  Considering that the Chinese side has ratified the Sino-French Agreement on Criminal and Judicial Assistance, the French side promised to accelerate the execution of the relevant procedures, so that the Agreement will come into force as soon as possible.  Both sides also agree that the negotiation on the bilateral extradition treaty should be initiated.

2006-11-03

2006-11-03