BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Wednesday China welcomes a state visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in late November.

    "I particularly mentioned in the talks that China warmly welcomes President Sarkozy to pay a state visit to China in late November," said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi when meeting media with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner after their talks.

    Yang said the upcoming visit will be a great event for China-France relations this year. He and Kouchner discussed the preparation work for the visit, agreeing that the visit will surely make important achievements and greatly boost bilateral relations.

    This will be Sarkozy's first visit to China since he became French President in May this year.

    Yang said China and France are friendly countries and enjoy a comprehensive strategic partnership. The two countries share broad consensus on bilateral relations and on major international and regional issues.

    Kouchner agreed with Yang's comments, saying during President Sarkozy's visit to China, the two sides will have the opportunities to sign a lot of agreements of cooperation.

    On EU-China (European Union) relations, the French foreign minister said both France and EU held that they should face up to the international economic challenges in a highly competitive world and make certain necessary adjustments, noting that the development of all-round strategic partnership between EU and China offer excellent opportunities for bilateral cooperation.

    Kouchner said France would double its efforts to help resolve the problems in existing EU-China relations when it assume the EU presidency in the second half of 2008.

    During their hour-long talks, Yang extended his appreciation for French government's adherence to a positive and friendly policy towards China, saying China is ready to continuously promote the development of China-France comprehensive strategic partnership, according to a press release from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

    Kouchner said the French government attaches great importance to China's rapid development and its role and influence in international affairs, the release said.

    Kouchner said France firmly adheres to the one-China policy and supports the position declared recently by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana that the European Union will not accept the "referendum on UN entry" pushed by Taiwan's authorities.

    The two also exchanged views on the issues concerning Myanmar, Sudan's Darfur, Iranian nuclear, Korean Peninsular nuclear, Africa, China-EU relations and climate change.

    The two foreign ministers also attended the opening ceremony of the first China-France consultation on development issue, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

    Yang said at the ceremony that both China and France are active exponents and participants in international development and cooperation and share the same or similar views on strengthening international development and cooperation.

    He said China hopes to strengthen the coordination and cooperation between China and France on major development issues, in a bid to promote the building of a lasting equitable, mutual-beneficial and win-win global development partnership.

    The two sides exchanged views on such issues as financing for development and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.