Belt and Road Initiative means 'additional opportunities' for France's agriculture: Expert

PARIS - The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative means "additional opportunities" for France's agricultural and agri-food actors, said a French researcher recently.

In an article published on the official website of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS), the institute's associate researcher Sebastien Abis said that facing changes in the lifestyles of Chinese society, the growth of meat consumption (beef and pork in particular) is leading China to import more, without forgetting the need for dairy products that the country buys on the market.

People must not underestimate the agricultural dimension in China's Belt and Road Initiative, which is also "a highway to the plates of Chinese households in the service of food security of the country."

With the Belt and Road Initiative, the dynamics already at work can be amplified. More European and French agricultural productions are likely with this initiative, the expert said.

Only 3 percent of China's agricultural imports currently come from France. There are therefore "additional opportunities" for French players in the sector who would do well to better infiltrate the Chinese market or the rest of Asia, Abis said.

"France can not turn its back on the initiative," he said.