We should encourage two-way investment

More German companies are welcome to invest in China. We hope to speedily conclude negotiations on a model joint-venture contract with Germany and establish a China-Germany investment hotline to help solve problems our companies may encounter. We will open more service sectors. Here, I wish to reiterate that all foreign companies registered in China in accordance with the law receive national treatment and that the intellectual property rights of all companies will be effectively protected. We also hope that the German government will take active and effective steps to support Chinese companies making investments in Germany.

We should strengthen technological exchanges and cooperation

The technological strengths of German companies, when combined with China's strengths in labor resources and market, will help promote China's economic structural adjustment and industrial upgrading and make German companies and products more competitive in the world market. So this will produce a win-win outcome. China is ready to enhance technological cooperation with Germany in advanced equipment manufacturing, transportation, energy, petrochemicals and fine chemicals, new materials, bio-medicine and aerospace. We want to enhance technological exchanges through the launching of major business projects, but will not make technology transfer a mandatory requirement. The EU's export control vis--vis China has restricted German exports of high- and new-tech products to China and greatly undermined the competitiveness of German companies in the Chinese market. We hope that Germany will urge the EU to relax such export controls and increase the share of high- and new-tech products in its trade with China.

We should expand cooperation on new energy, energy conservation and environmental protection

China and Germany have much to benefit from cooperation in developing renewable energy and improving energy efficiency. The two countries signed a cooperative agreement on building an eco-park last year, and the first China-Germany eco-park is due to be built in Qingdao. We hope German companies will actively participate in its planning and construction. We will give full play to the pace-setting role of bilateral financial cooperation and use such funding to mainly support cooperation in energy conservation, emissions reduction, green credit and addressing climate change. We also hope that Chinese and German companies will make substantive progress in cooperation on new energy based transportation, building efficiency and low-carbon eco-city development.

We should increase cooperation between small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

China not only pursues cooperation with large German transnational companies, but also encourages cooperation between Chinese and German SMEs. China has decided to set up a 2 billion euro ($2.88 billion) special loan to support such cooperation. We will leverage the respective strengths of Chinese and German SMEs in capital, technology, R&D, human resources and market to promote common development.