France keen on large-jet program

FRANCE has shown an interest in participating in China's large-jet program, a French official said in Tianjin yesterday.

Anne-Marie Idrac, French minister of state for foreign trade, said at an ongoing aerospace convention that French companies could be suppliers of engines, takeoff and landing gears, and electronic devices - an industry in which the French are highly competitive. French defense firms Safran and Thales are already in contact with potential Chinese clients, though China has not invited bidders, the minister said at the China Tianjin International Business Convention for Aerospace Industries.