The deals include a purchase by China of Airbus aircraft, several thousand tonnes of uranium from the French nuclear company Areva and a lucrative contract between French insurance firm Axa and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Together they are said by the French to be the biggest series of deals signed in one such visit. But given the economic interests at stake here, there will be one noticeable omission from the menu - the issue of human rights, in particular the subject of Liu Xiaobo, the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
With just days before its first elections for two decades, Burma appears to have become the victim of a massive cyber attack, which is blocking Internet access in the country. Jonny Hogg has the details.
This cyber attack appears to have been going on for nearly two weeks, but has worsened as the elections approach. Internet servers within the country are being deliberately flooded with far too much data in what is known as a Distributed Denial of Service attack. The result is that Internet access has become virtually impossible. The question is who has targeted Burma and why. There has been no comment from the Burmese authorities, but state media says the attack is coming from outside the country. This is not a view held by all. Some opposition figures and observers believe the military government could be sabotaging the servers itself in an attempt to limit reporting on Sunday's vote.
World News from the BBC