Source: Xinhua | 04-19-2009 14:22

PARIS , April 18 (Xinhua) -- France hopes to improve its all-round cooperation with China and consolidate bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership, speaker of the French National Assembly told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Bernard Accoyer is scheduled to visit China on April 19-26 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China.

This will be the first time since 1982 that a speaker of the National Assembly makes an official visit to China.

The visit is designed to boost the cooperation between the two parliaments and upgrade the China-France parliamentarian relations, Accoyer said.

Accoyer also said that his visit has two purposes, namely, to promote the exchanges between the two parliaments, and the economic cooperation between the two countries which lies at the core of bilateral relations.

He also said "understanding and mutual respect must remain as the driving force behind the development of bilateral relations in the future."