French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday that the nation will enhance efforts to develop renewable energy while pursuing nuclear energy.

France has led the world in the utilization of nuclear energy, but lags behind others in the field of renewable energy due to inadequate recognition of its importance, Sarkozy said during a visit to the National Institute of Solar Energy (INES) in Le Bourget du Lac, French Alps.

Renewable energy will dominate the government agenda as nuclear energy did during General Charles de Gaulle's administration in the 1960s, he said.

The president pledged more financial input in the development of renewable energy. "Where we spend an euro on nuclear energy, we will also spend an euro on clean energy," he said.

The second largest producer of renewable energy in Europe, France is lagging behind Spain and Germany in the fields of solar and wind energies.

The country announced a plan last year to vigorously boost its clean energy, which envisions the proportion of renewable energy to top 23 percent of its total energy consumption by 2020.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2009)