Germany-China partnership enjoys bright prospects

BERLIN -- The partnership between Germany and China has bright prospects given their complementary advantages and cooperation potential, said a German business leader on Wednesday.

Bilateral trade has achieved remarkable growth in the past 10 years with the volume more than quadrupled, noted Hubert Lienhard, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business, a lobby group and umbrella organization of several leading business federations in Germany.

"That is largely a result of their complementary trade structure and the stable and trustful relationship between the two countries," Lienhard told Xinhua in an interview, adding that the trust is shown by the frequent visits of German and Chinese leaders, as well as various dialogue and exchange mechanisms.

On Thursday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will begin his second visit to Germany since he took office in March 2013. The visit follows closely with Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Germany in March and German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to China in July.

During his visit, Li will attend the sixth meeting of the biennial Hamburg Summit, scheduled on Friday and Saturday, to expound China's view on the China-Europe relationship and its development direction.

"The German and Chinese government leaders have showed great vision and determination, and made tremendous efforts to strengthen their bilateral trade relations," said Lienhard.

Lienhard said he is looking forward to further exchanges of ideas on cooperation potential between the two countries at the summit.

In his view, innovation and vocational training are among the areas where opportunities for collaboration lie.

Germany has advantages in innovation, technology, research and development, while China needs to seek out opportunities to ready itself for the future in those fields, he said.

Dubbing Germany's dual education "the most advanced vocational training system in the world," Lienhard said the system could make a contribution to vocational training in China and to the advancement of "Made-in-China."

As the Chinese government gradually introduces its package for economic reform, Lienhard said, there are great opportunities for foreign businesses.

"The dynamics of the Chinese economy, bolstered by continuing reform and opening-up, will definitely inject vigor into Germany-China cooperation," he said. "I see bright prospects for a stronger Germany-China partnership in the coming years."

Time to look beyond headline numbers	Chinese economy takes 12.3% of world total in 2013