President Sarkozy helped to clinch the world’s largest commercial nuclear power contract yesterday, winning an agreement to sell French-designed reactors and atomic fuel worth nearly $12 billion to China.

The deal with Areva, the state-owned French nuclear energy giant, forms part of an ambitious Chinese drive to satisfy the country’s growing hunger for energy.

Areva said that the $11.86 billion (£5.7 billion) contract to build two European pressurised water reactors (EPRs) and to supply more than a decade’s worth of fuel was a global record for the industry.

The EPR is the world’s most powerful nuclear reactor design. Each unit is capable of generating 1,700 megawatts of electricity. After Finland and France, China will be home to only the third and fourth EPRs to have been built.

Areva has asked to be paid partly in euros to protect itself against the fall in the dollar. Indeed, the strength of the euro, which hit a record against the dollar last week, overshadowed the main business section of Mr Sarkozy’s three-day visit to China.

Sitting side by side with President Hu Jintao, Mr Sarkozy eschewed diplomatic niceties and tackled the question of the day, making a public appeal to the Chinese leader to allow the yuan to rise more quickly against Europe’s single currency.

Yesterday’s statement by Mr Sarkozy marks the start of a difficult week for China. Today it will welcome a high-powered European Union delegation, which will emphasise to China the need for the yuan to climb, not only to ease global trade imbalances but also to cool its own economy and dampen down inflation.

Mr Hu sat by impassively in one of the ornate rooms in the Great Hall of the People while his French guest told him of China’s growing responsibilities on such issues as the environment and exchange rates. Mr Sarkozy said: “We need to arrive at currency rates that are harmonious and fair. This means that, for its own sake as well, China needs to accelerate the appreciation of the yuan against the euro.”

While the Chinese currency has climbed 9 per cent against the dollar since its landmark 2.1 per cent revaluation in July 2005, it has fallen about 11 per cent in total against the euro. The euro’s strength is causing growing consternation in the EU, whose trade deficit with China is soaring. France alone had a €16 billion (£11.5 billion) deficit with China last year.

Greater bonhomie was on display as the two leaders presided over a raft of business deals, including the Areva deal and a decision by China to place the biggest order to date for Airbus aircraft. Representatives signed a framework deal to buy 160 aircraft – 110 single-aisle A320s and 50 twin-aisle A330s – worth $17 billion before discounts. It exceeded an order last year for 150 aircraft from the country with the world’s fastest-growing fleet of airliners.

China will also take a 5 per cent risk-sharing stake in the development of the A350, a €10 billion project that is an attempt by Airbus to catch up with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the fast-growing mid-sized airliner market. There was no sign of interest from China, despite earlier reports, that it would buy one of the giant A380s.

Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus’s parent company EADS, said that the strength of the euro could lead to a huge increase in outsourcing of production to lower-cost countries if it was not reined in. Airbus sells its aircraft in dollars, but nearly half of its costs are in euros. He said: “It is a vital danger, which means it is eating the margins of the company, but it is not an immediate one.”

Mr Sarkozy did save a few euros. He was given an 80 per cent discount for his stay in the €6,800-a-night State Suite at the Beijing Sofitel hotel.

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