At the invitation of the French Ministry of Labour, Health, Solidarity and Families, Lei Haichao, minister of China's National Health Commission, led a delegation to France from May 21 to 23.

Lei met with Catherine Vautrin, French minister of Labour, Health, Solidarity and Families, in Paris to discuss multilateral and bilateral health cooperation and global health issues.

He said that China and France have maintained close health collaboration and active governmental and non-governmental exchanges at all levels, with fruitful results achieved in hospital management, emergency medicine, talent cultivation as well as infectious disease prevention and control.

Facing the significant challenges in global health governance today, China and France should continue to work together to support the leading and coordinating role of the World Health Organization (WHO) in global health governance and to promote the building of a global community of health for all, he added.

Vautrin said that the health cooperation between the two countries has a solid foundation and expressed confidence in its future development. She emphasized that the international community should strengthen unity to effectively address global health challenges and France is willing to enhance multilateral and bilateral cooperation with China and improve coordination on multilateral platforms such as the WHO, so as to jointly contribute to global health development.

During their stay in France, the delegation also visited headquarters of Foundation Merieux, the Hospices Civils de Lyon (Lyon Public Hospital Group) and bioMérieux.