Visit to push China-Germany economic, trade cooperation

BERLIN－Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Germany will push forward bilateral economic and trade cooperation, said commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Germany.

"Economic and trade cooperation has always been the ballast of China-Germany relations. Premier Li's visit to Germany has made fruitful achievements in the economic and trade fields and will push forward Sino-German economic and trade cooperation," Wang Weidong told Xinhua in a recent interview during Li's two-day fruitful official visit to Germany.

Li's visit came as globalization is threatened by rising trade protectionism, Wang said, stressing that both China and Germany have made it clear that they would jointly promote trade liberalization and investment facilitation, support an early conclusion of the EU-China investment agreement and improve China-EU free trade cooperation.

Wang hopes that Germany would continue to play a positive role in urging the EU to make good on its promise to support the principles of the World Trade Organization and the EU's fulfillment of Article 15 of the Protocol on China's Accession to the WTO, as well as to stop using the "surrogate country" or similar approaches in anti-dumping investigations against China.

"China and Germany should shape innovation together to build a new engine for the development of bilateral relations," Wang stressed.

On the future of China-Germany economic and trade cooperation, Wang believed that bilateral trade would bring new growth opportunities via the Belt and Road Initiative and cross-border e-commerce.

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, with an aim to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes.

"To explore third markets together will become another new trend for the two countries. Small and medium-sized enterprises will also share more international cooperation dividends," Wang said.

Wang pointed out that a platform should be set up to encourage local cooperation and to demonstrate the integrative innovation of large and medium-sized enterprises.

As the United States announced its withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, China and Germany should convey to the international community a firm position on addressing climate change, Wang said.

"China and Germany have great potential for trade cooperation," Wang stressed, adding that "Chinese and German entrepreneurs should seize the opportunity to share the fruits of cooperation."

"At this important moment when the current world situation is undergoing great changes, Premier Li Keqiang's visit will surely play an important role in promoting exchanges and deepening cooperation between China and Germany," Wang said.