China's commerce minister meets Danone CEO, discusses deeper cooperation

BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with Antoine de Saint-Affrique, chief executive officer of Danone, a leading global food and beverage company, on Monday.

The two sides exchanged views on Danone's development in China and on China-EU and China-France economic and trade relations, the commerce ministry said in a press release on Tuesday.

Noting that China is firmly expanding high-level opening up, Wang said that the Chinese consumer market continues to grow, and its consumption structure keeps upgrading, providing broad space for foreign-invested enterprises to develop in the country.

Wang welcomed Danone to expand investment, innovation and research and development in China, and to provide more quality products and services to both the Chinese and international markets.

Wang added that the recent meeting of the China-EU trade and investment consultation mechanism reached a series of outcomes and consensus, which has stabilized business expectations. He expressed the hope that Danone will play a positive role in advancing China-EU and China-France economic and trade relations.

For his part, de Saint-Affrique said Danone is optimistic about the prospects of the Chinese market, and will continue to increase investment in China and strengthen the research and development of new products. He added that the company is willing to contribute to EU-China and France-China economic and trade cooperation.