French president praises World Expo theme

French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday described this year's World Expo theme of "Better City, Better Life" as a bold and lucid choice focused on a significant challenge for the future.
The president is scheduled to visit China on April 28-30 with stops at Xi'an, Beijing and Shanghai, where the exposition will be held from May 1 to October 31.
"Taking the theme 'Better City, Better Life', you have chosen to make the 2010 Shanghai Expo an event resolutely focused toward the future," Sarkozy told Xinhua in an interview.
He said, while the number of city dwellers continued to grow across the world and issues related to urban development became more and more significant, many problems needed to be solved. So China's choice of "Better City, Better Life" was appropriate.
"I pay tribute to the organizers of the 2010 Shanghai Expo who have made a lucid and bold choice," he said.
Sarkozy said France was one of the firm supporters of Shanghai's candidacy for the exposition and was the first country to have promised to participate in the event.
"The choice of China and the choice of Shanghai, were something very important for us; that is the reason why I wanted to personally attend the opening ceremony," he said.
The president said China has made great efforts to make the expo "a huge success."
Sarkozy said the design and display in the France pavilion would reflect a real, colorful, confident and open France.

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        法国总统萨科齐27日在访华前夕接受新华社记者专访时表示，上海世博会选择“城市，让生活更美好”为主题，“使2010年上海世博会必将成为一次坚定面向未来的盛事”。

萨科齐说，“法国在第一时间就全力支持上海申办世博会。我们甚至积极开展了支持中国申办的宣传活动。法国也是第一个向中国政府确认参加上海世博会的国家。我们认为世博会在上海举办非常重要。所以我坚持亲自参加世博会的开幕式”。

萨科齐对上海世博会选择“城市，让生活更美好”为主题表示敬意。他说，“当世界上的城市人口不断增加，与之相关的城市发展、城市改造、生活环境，甚至城市与环境之间的关系等都成为核心问题。我们怎样才能够使城市变化适应新的需求？怎样应对新的挑战，特别是保护好环境？如何重新考虑城市与自然的关系？如何使这两者不再互相对立，相反让它们融为一体？这些令人关注而又必须考虑的问题是这届世博会演绎的核心思想。我在此向2010年上海世博会的组织者表示敬意，他们做出了清醒、果断的选择”。

萨科齐表示，对中国未来的坚信对我来说比以往任何时候都具有更重要的意义，这正是我将强化法中合作伙伴关系作为法国外交政策重点的原因所在。我们两国之间曾有过误解，但是今天这一切都已成为过去”。