China, Germany seek stronger cooperation as Merkel visits

BEIJING - China and Germany agreed in Beijing on Thursday to step up win-win cooperation and especially in emerging industries such as artificial intelligence and new energy vehicles.

The agreement was made between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In their talks at the Great Hall of the People, Li proposed giving full play to the role of bilateral institutional dialogues in various areas, make good arrangement for the new round of China-Germany inter-governmental consultation, and enhance exchanges in such areas as finance, trade, investment and security.

Li welcomed German companies to invest in China, and expected Germany to offer fair and open environment as well as stable institution guarantee for Chinese investment in Germany and Europe.

Li called for stronger China-Germany cooperation in digitalization and innovation, proposing to cement cooperation in emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, new energy vehicle, vehicle networking and autopilot, in a bid to foster a new engine of bilateral cooperation.

He called on both countries to combine development strategies, facilitate people-to-people exchanges as well as cultural, educational and tourism cooperation.

Chinese government supports the two countries to exchange interns, to learn from each other's professional skills, Li said.