BEIJING, Jan. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao left here for Paris on Monday for a three-day state visit to France. The visit takes place on the 40th anniversary of the establishmentof diplomatic relations between the two countries.

    Following is some important figures in the Sino-French cooperation covering trade, finance, investment, science, education and other fields.

    1. Bilateral trade

    According to the General Customs Office of China, bilateral trade in 1999 amounted to 6.71 billion US dollars, 11.2 percent more than that of the previous year.

    During the January-October period in 2000, two-way trade reached 5.98 billion dollars, an 11.2-percent increase over the same period of 1999.

    And in 2003, two-way trade jumped to 13.39 billion dollars, 60.9 percent more than that in 2002.

    2. Financial cooperation

    By the end of June 2002, China and France had signed 23 financial protocols and two agreements on grant. The total amountsof government loans pledged by the French side were approximately 2.57 billion euros (about 2 billion dollars). France is one of thecountries that have provided large amounts of government loans to China. The two sides have arranged 133 loan projects in total.

    3. French investment in China

    French investment in China focuses on fields such as energy, automobile, chemistry, the light industry and food processing.

    By the end of 2001, there had been 1,870 projects in China withdirect French investment. The contracted investments were approximately 6.26 billion dollars and the capital actually invested was 5.03 billion dollars, ranking third among the EU countries.

    In 2001 alone, 150 projects with direct French investment were carried out in China, and the contracted investments were 510 million dollars, and the capital actually invested was 590 milliondollars.

    From January to June in 2002, France directly invested in 69 new projects in China, and the contracted investments were 528 million dollars and the capital actually invested was 240 million dollars.

    4. Science

    By the end of 2001, the two sides had signed 1,606 contracts, totaling 10.08 billion dollars, for introducing technologies in areas such as space utilization (remote sensing technology), cooperation in nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, coal cleaning and electricity generation with wind power.

    5. Education

    The two countries have signed the Agreement on Educational Exchange and Cooperation, and held regular consultation meetings.

    In recent years, the two sides have implemented 24 educational exchange projects, exchanging scholarship students every year.

    By the end of 2001, there had been approximately 2,776 Chinese students studying in France and 1,057 French students studying in China. Enditem