French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Europe to “grasp the chance the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative” presents to better achieve connectivity and common prosperity in Eurasia, said former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin at a conference in Paris organized by the Boao Forum for Asia. “President Macron is highly aware of the significance of the Belt and Road Initiative and has been urging Europe to grasp the chance to cooperate with China”, Raffarin said, as Macron was scheduled to meet a Chinese delegation led by former Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan, Chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Boao Forum for Asia, who called at a conference in Paris for closer cooperation between China and Europe. Raffarin confirmed the European Union has great interest in the Belt and Road Initiative. Gerard Larcher, President of the French Senate, urged European countries to offer their own development plans to match the Belt and Road Initiative.

In a related development, a new report – EU-China Economic Relations to 2025: Building a Common Future – identifies key trends and areas of potential economic collaboration, with scope for an “enormous increase” in investment. The Belt and Road Initiative is seen by the report’s authors as a platform for further expanding bilateral trade and economic cooperation, with the EU potentially becoming its Western anchor.