Officials from China and France pledged on Thursday to build a new type of economic partnership, while strengthening business cooperation.

"China and France continue to share remarkable economic complementarity, and they have huge potential for cooperation.

"The key is to innovate and expand the methods and areas of cooperation, enhance the openness of trade and investment and oppose all kinds of protectionism," Wan Jifei, chairman of the China Council for Promotion of International Trade, told the 19th China-France Economic Seminar in Beijing.

"In addition to improving operations in each other's market, businesses from the two countries should stress the joint exploration of international markets. This will enhance the global competitiveness of businesses and help build a new type of economic partnership," Wan said.

He urged Chinese and French enterprises to expand their cooperation into new areas, including urban sustainable development, new energy, healthcare, modern agriculture and information technology.

He also expressed confidence that the two countries will enhance their joint work in conventional fields, such as aviation, nuclear power and automobiles.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who started a five-day visit to China on Thursday, said that China is a very important partner of France, especially in the economic area.

"The interdependency of the two economies is increasing France-China relations, and we've decided to strengthen the partnership," said Ayrault.

He added that France expects to boost cooperation with China in such areas as food and agricultural products.

"China has demand in these areas and France has advantages. We hope to build long-term cooperation."

France is working with Chinese cities - Wuhan in Hubei province, Shenyang in Liaoning province and Chengdu in Sichuan province - to advance sustainable urban development programs in which French enterprises can make full use of their expertise in public transportation, energy, environmental protection, pollution control and construction materials, Ayrault said.

He added that France expects to balance bilateral trade by enlarging the overall scale of trade, and he urged large French companies to help smaller ones explore international markets such as China.

Bilateral trade declined 2 percent last year to $51.02 billion, according to the General Administration of Customs. China's exports to the European Union's second-largest economy declined 10.3 percent, while its imports from France increased 9.3 percent.

Bilateral trade in the January-October period expanded 5.3 percent year-on-year.

"French small and medium-sized enterprises have advantages, such as remarkable innovation, and we hope that they can improve cooperation with China," said Pierre Gattaz, president of Movement of the Enterprises of France.

MEF is an employers federation that represents more than 750,000 companies, 90 percent of which are small enterprises with fewer than 50 employees.

Ayrault added: "We also hope that Chinese enterprises can understand the great opportunities of investing in France. We have high-quality infrastructure, and advanced research and development.

"Meanwhile, the government is reforming vocational education to enhance quality, and labor costs are expected to decline 6 percent next year."

Jean Pierre Raffarin, former French prime minister, said: "As some projects are under negotiation, I believe Chinese investment in France will maintain robust growth in the coming years."

Chinese direct investment in France in 2012 reached $153.93 million, taking the cumulative total to $3.95 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce.