China, Germany agree to expand market access

China and Germany agreed on Sunday to expand mutual market access based on a level playing field and strengthen cooperation in the fiscal and financial areas, as strengthening economic ties could be of mutual advantage.

Vice-Premier He Lifeng and German Minister of Finance Christian Lindner co-chaired the third China-Germany High-Level Financial Dialogue in Frankfurt on Sunday and reached consensus on 25 topics, China's Ministry of Finance said in a joint statement on Sunday.

Both sides agreed to communicate on signing a memorandum of understanding on insurance supervision, and China welcomes qualified German insurance companies to apply for operational licenses in areas they specialize in, according to the statement.

Chinese and German authorities will establish a dialogue to discuss the necessary conditions for exempting specific requirements for Chinese banks' branches in Germany, while China is willing to encourage at least one Chinese bank to establish a subsidiary in Germany as its European hub.

Both sides will support German financial institutions' conducting renminbi business, encourage qualified German entities to issue and invest in renminbi-denominated bonds and accommodate the possibility of listings of depository receipts of domestic shares on each other's stock markets.

The statement also stressed both sides' commitment to bilaterally and multilaterally strengthening macroeconomic policy coordination to jointly promote global economic recovery and sustainable development while safeguarding global financial stability.

China and Germany will work together with other G20 members to stand by all the commitments made in a common framework for debt treatments agreed on in 2020, and will strengthen comprehensive cooperation under the framework of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Consensus was also reached in regard to strengthening exchanges about central bank digital currencies and sustainable finance.

The high-level mechanism serves as a key platform for bilateral exchange and policy coordination between China and Germany on strategic, overarching and long-term fiscal and financial issues. During the last financial dialogue in 2019, central banks from both sides signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation.