Beijing, Oct 26 (DPA) China and France Thursday signed 14 economic agreements, including purchase of 150 Airbus A320 passenger jets by Beijing, after talks between French President Jacques Chirac and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.
The agreements also covered cooperation in nuclear energy, infectious diseases and environmental technology.
The 150 Airbus A320s are scheduled to be produced and delivered from 2009 to 2012, with a new Airbus assembly plant in the northern city of Tianjin producing an average of four aircraft per month by 2011, the company said in a statement.
The two sides also signed a letter of intent on the purchase of 20 Airbus A350s.
Chirac was welcomed by a military parade in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, before formal talks with Hu in the nearby Great Hall of the People.
At a joint press conference, Hu welcomed Chirac's support for the lifting of the European Union embargo on arms sales to China, after the French president called the ban an "anachronism."
"The two sides believe that the European Union should take the EU-China expanding partnership into full consideration, most notably by lifting the arms embargo which is no longer pertinent to the present situation," said a joint statement signed by Hu and Chirac.
The statement also urged the European Union to grant China market economic status as soon as possible.
Hu and Chirac said they agreed that North Korea should return to six-party talks aimed at negotiating an end to its nuclear weapons programme.
They expressed "serious concern" over North Korea's announcement that it conducted a nuclear test Oct 9, and urged Pyongyang to "abide by its commitment to denuclearisation of the peninsula".
Chirac is on the second day of a four-day visit dominated by promotion of French business in China.
French firm Suez Environment said it signed several contracts on Thursday, including two for the design and construction of "latest-generation" drinking water plants in Macao and Tianjin.
Suez also signed a 30-year contract valued at 1 billion euros for the management of water services in Changshu city, and its tenth contract with the Chinese iron and steel industry.