The Consulate General of France in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, will open at the beginning of 2006, according to the consulate official.

The French consulate general signed an agreement with a local office building on Wednesday for establishing its new consulate site in Chengdu.

"After careful review, we decided to choose this office building as our permanent location," said Jaques Dumasy, consul general of the French consulate.

"We will make preparations before we move to the new site in January 2006, and the consulate is expected to open in February or March of 2006," said Dumasy.

France attaches importance to developing a close relationship with Sichuan and other provinces in western China, Dumasy said, noting that the establishment of the consulate general in Chengdu will help strengthen exchanges between France and western China in such fields as economy, trade, culture, education and science.

The trade between Sichuan and France hit 200 million US dollars in 2004, with imports amounting to 150 million dollars. By the end of 2004, the number of French-invested projects in Sichuan totaled 56, which involved a total contractual foreign capital of 279 million dollars.

Source: Xinhua