On the afternoon of April 24, 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Speaker of the French National Assembly Bernard Accoyer at the Great Hall of the People.

This year was the 45th anniversary of establishment of the Sino-French diplomatic relations, said Hu. Under the cultivation and promotion of generations of leaders of both countries, China and France have witnessed great development of bilateral relations in the past 45 years, he said. This brought concrete benefits for the two peoples, and had far-reaching influence on the international strategic situation, the president said.

Hu said the Chinese government always attached high importance to its relations with France. "We will work with France to push forward the healthy and stable growth of bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership," Hu said. He hoped the two nations would seriously learn from the historical experience in the development of Sino-French ties, and jointly carry out related consensus reached by both nations.

The Chinese government supports increased exchanges and cooperation between the two countries' legislative organs to develop friendship and promote cooperation, Hu said, hoping that more French parliamentary members would commit to the friendship cause of the two countries and make contribution to the development of bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.

Accoyer said France valued relations with China. Chinese President Hu and his French counterpart Sarkozy met in London ahead of the Group of 20 summit on the global financial crisis. This opened a new chapter in bilateral relations, Accoyer noted. He said France is ready to enhance pragmatic cooperation with China in all areas on the new basis, to consolidate the comprehensive strategic partnership. Accoyer said the French National Assembly hoped to promote lasting development of France-China friendly relations through regular exchange mechanism with the National People's Congress (NPC) and other means.

Li Jianguo, Vice-Chairman and Secretary-General of NPC Standing Committee, and other officials attended the meeting.