法國總統(tǒng)薩科齊：對上海世博主題表敬意

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.

        相關中文新聞

        法國總統(tǒng)薩科齊27日在訪華前夕接受新華社記者專訪時表示，上海世博會選擇“城市，讓生活更美好”為主題，“使2010年上海世博會必將成為一次堅定面向未來的盛事”。

薩科齊說，“法國在第一時間就全力支持上海申辦世博會。我們甚至積極開展了支持中國申辦的宣傳活動。法國也是第一個向中國政府確認參加上海世博會的國家。我們認為世博會在上海舉辦非常重要。所以我堅持親自參加世博會的開幕式”。

薩科齊對上海世博會選擇“城市，讓生活更美好”為主題表示敬意。他說，“當世界上的城市人口不斷增加，與之相關的城市發(fā)展、城市改造、生活環(huán)境，甚至城市與環(huán)境之間的關系等都成為核心問題。我們怎樣才能夠使城市變化適應新的需求？怎樣應對新的挑戰(zhàn)，特別是保護好環(huán)境？如何重新考慮城市與自然的關系？如何使這兩者不再互相對立，相反讓它們?nèi)跒橐惑w？這些令人關注而又必須考慮的問題是這屆世博會演繹的核心思想。我在此向2010年上海世博會的組織者表示敬意，他們做出了清醒、果斷的選擇”。

薩科齊表示，對中國未來的堅信對我來說比以往任何時候都具有更重要的意義，這正是我將強化法中合作伙伴關系作為法國外交政策重點的原因所在。我們兩國之間曾有過誤解，但是今天這一切都已成為過去”。