On February 9, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, executive chairman of China International Cultural Communication Center, Long Yuxiang met with French Sports Minister Laura Flessel in PyeongChang, the two sides had in-depth exchange of views on culture and sports of the two countries, especially the preparations for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing and the Paris Olympics.
Long Yuxiang said that China and France will host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and the 2024 Summer Olympic Games respectively. With the high attention of the two governments, China-France sports exchanges have made great progress. China International Culture Communication Center as the country’s important window for foreign cultural exchange and communication, pays great attention to China's cultural exchanges with all the countries in the world, meanwhile, also attaches great importance to the communication of sports, since Beijing Kunlun Red Star Ice Hockey Club under the supervision of CICCC has been established last year, they have been seriously implementing President Xi’s important instruction spirit on developing Chinese winter sports, which has achieved very good results, additionally, with Russia, Belarus, Canada, Sweden, Finland and other winter sports powerful counties they have also been keeping actively communication, France has rich experience in winter sports field, and hope to cooperation in the future.
Laura Flessel, a former Olympic champion of women's fencing, became France's sports minister in May 2017. She said that sports cooperation between France and China need to give full play to their respective strengths and share the training experience of each other's advantageous. France has a great advantage in sports such as football, fencing and winter sports, while China has an unshakable position in table tennis, diving and other fields. The two sides will be able to send the coaches and young athletes from their respective strong fields to exchange visits, in order to train more champions for the 2022 winter Olympics and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. As the two countries will be hosting the Olympics, France and China can be more actively and develop the close cooperation in the field of sports, hope to carry out all-round cooperation with CICCC, and achieve win-win situation.