France wants deeper Aust ties: Hollande

French President Francois Hollande says Australia should regard France as a neighbour and the two countries should work to strengthen their security and economic ties.

On his first visit to Sydney, the French president highlighted France's presence in the Pacific region, through territories such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia, during a high-level meeting between French and Australian politicians and business delegates.

Mr Hollande noted Australia and France's history of friendship and shared military sacrifice but pointed to high-tech industrial development as the way forward for the two countries.

"What needs to bring us closer together is technology," Mr Hollande said via an interpreter.

Mr Hollande is the first French president to visit Australia, coming for the G20 conference last weekend in Brisbane and returning to Sydney on Monday after a brief trip to New Caledonia.

Technology and trade were high on the agenda for the visit, with Mr Hollande accompanied by executives from leading French firms such as space engineering group Arianespace.

Following a 21-gun salute official welcome on Sydney Harbour and a state lunch with Governor-General Peter Cosgrove, Mr Hollande toured the western Sydney headquarters of French defence contractor Thales, which supplies sonar and other equipment to the Australian and French militaries.

The Socialist Party leader met trade minister Andrew Robb and senior Australian business figures including Westpac chief Gail Kelly and Qantas boss Alan Joyce at a Business Council of Australia meeting in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon.

He told the group France and Australia could share expertise to add value in key primary production industries such as mining and agriculture, and that he would encourage French biotechnology and telecommunications entrepreneurs to set up in Australia.

France has the world's fifth-biggest economy and is Australia's 18th-largest merchandise trading partner, with trade between the two countries worth $5.3 billion in 2013.

Mr Hollande said he was in Australia not just to promote French companies but also to promote France as a neighbour in the Pacific.

"We want to remain present in this area for reasons of stability, of security but also of economic development," he said.

"France needs to conceive its presence here not just as being a very remote power but as a country that is in fact part of your space here in the Pacific."

Mr Robb told Mr Hollande foreign investment and expertise was vital to Australia's plans to expand its trade in Asia and that Australia offered French companies "a reliable stepping stone into Asia".

Australia is conducting scoping work on a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union and France will be a key player in any negotiations.

Mr Hollande will meet Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Canberra on Wednesday.

He took an apparent swipe at Mr Abbott's intransigence on addressing climate change at the G20, which he described as a success due to commitments made and pointedly included commitments on climate change.

"But I don't want to make a nuisance of myself so I won't dwell on that," he said.