French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday issued a joint statement reaffirming their strong support for the “irreversible” Paris Agreement on climate change, from which the US announced its exit this week.

The French president is visiting China for the second time since he took office, and he is traveling now with a business delegation of 30 companies.

The Chinese leader hailed the visit as giving a boost to multilateralism and free trade, amid ongoing economic tensions with Washington, AP reported.