Economy

Billion-dollar deals to be inked in Germany

By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-06-28 14:43

BERLIN - China and Germany are set to sign multi-billion-dollar cooperation deals on Tuesday while visiting Premier Wen Jiabao holds "government consultations" with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Up to 16 Chinese ministers and vice-ministers will join the premier at the first round of government consultations, which aim to further boost bilateral political trust, promote trade and economic relations and deeply involve Germany, the economic engine of the European Union, in promoting China-EU relations.

It will be the second time in six months that the two countries will have inked deals worth significant amounts of money. In January, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang witnessed a signing ceremony involving up to $8.7 billion when he visited Germany.

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And this visit will be Wen's second to Germany within nine months. In October, he paid an unexpected dinner visit to Germany and met Merkel. This time, he will be there for less than 24 hours on the final leg of his five-day Europe visit.

In Hungary, Wen pledged to purchase a "certain amount" of Hungarian bonds and double the bilateral trade volume to $20 billion by 2015. In the UK, the two countries signed multi-billion-dollar agreements on Monday.

Fu Ying, vice-minister of foreign affairs, told the media: "We don't have a reason to be pessimistic about bilateral relations and we will get closer and closer."

She said China's cautious approach to reform and opening-up during the past decades worked well for the country.

"And the initiative also has brought tremendous opportunities for European countries, such as Germany," said Fu, adding that the bilateral trade volume between China and Germany reached $142 billion last year and noting that Germany is China's biggest trade partner in Europe.

The volume of trade between the two is nearly 30 percent of the total China-EU trade.

For Germany, China last year became its third-biggest trade partner and its largest import source.

Chi Fulin, president of the China Institute for Reform and Development, said Germany matters a lot to China because it has offered a reference on the future pathway of China's urbanization and industrialization.

"We should also learn from the essence of Germany's social policies and its social market system. Meanwhile, we need to strengthen cooperation on the environment and sustainable development," said Chi during an interview with China Daily.

Chinese Ambassador to Germany Wu Hongbo said the world still faces a complicated and vulnerable international situation, slow economic recovery and an unclear future in connection to the European debt crisis.

"We need joint coordination to fight against the challenges," said Wu.

He said China and Germany are very influential global and regional players, major economies and huge exporters.

"We share the same or similar stances on many international problems and we face good opportunities to bolster bilateral relations," said Wu.

China's decision to transform its development pattern by expanding domestic consumption and further deepening opening-up have offered tremendous space for future cooperation, he added.

"The premier's visit is an important diplomatic move at the beginning of China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period," said Wu. "These can further boost cooperation in various areas."