Addressing a Sino-French forum on agricultural insurance, Wu said developing the agricultural insurance sector was necessary to enhance the international competitiveness of the country's agriculture.

Wu said the CIRC, China's insurance watchdog, was committed to encouraging domestic insurance companies to engage in the agricultural insurance business.

Foreign insurance companies that specialized in the business were warmly welcomed, Wu said, stressing that China aimed to establish a comprehensive insurance system of multiple forms of ownership for the development of agriculture.

According to CIRC statistics, by the end last year, the sector recorded a total of 8.3 billion yuan (about US$1 billion) in premiums and it saw a total of 7.04 billion yuan paid out in compensation.

Renaud Museller, French State Secretary of Foreign Affairs, said at the forum that China's successful entry into World Trade Organization had brought many business opportunities to foreign enterprises.

Museller expressed the hope that French insurance companies could promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation between France and China.

Jean Azema, president of Groupama, a giant French insurance corporation, said that his company had submitted an application to the CIRC to establish a branch in China's southwest province of Sichuan, saying he felt confident in the future of bilateral cooperation in this field.

(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2003)