Merkel's visit to intensify cooperation

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's upcoming visit to China will intensify cooperation in areas including urbanization, environmental protection and international affairs, German Ambassador to China Michael Clauss said in an interview ahead of the chancellor's three-day visit.

Merkel will arrive on Sunday, her seventh visit since she took office in 2005.

It comes after President Xi Jinping's visit to Germany in March. In October, Premier Li Keqiang will lead a delegation to Germany for the third China-Germany intergovernmental consultation.

"It is very rare for China and a Western country to hold such frequent mutual high-level visits and shows the close ties between our two countries," said Clauss.

The ambassador said Merkel's visit will focus on China's modernization and economic reform as well as international issues that both countries are concerned with. It will set the political direction for future cooperation.

"If China would like to upgrade its economic structure, it will need more high technologies, which Germany can contribute," said Clauss.

He emphasized that urbanization, together with environmental protection, is a huge field for cooperation.

In the 1970s, Germany faced serious environmental problems similar to those in China now. In the Ruhr industrial region, the sky used to be covered with smog, and people could not swim in the rivers.

"In the 1970s and '80s we decided to clean up the air and the rivers. We did this a second time after German reunification in 1990, and we cleaned up the then-Eastern Germany within a couple of years. So I think there are some things we can offer," Clauss said.

In Germany, more than 98 percent of the enterprises are small and medium-sized companies. Some are world leaders in their sectors. These companies are eager to invest in China, and their advanced technologies can help China upgrade its industrial system, he said, adding that they will need better market access and should be treated like Chinese companies so that this potential could be fully made use of.

Germany also welcomes Chinese investment, especially from companies that have strong innovative capability, he said.

Germany is Europe's largest investor in China, with investment growing by 43 percent last year. Chinese investment in Germany reached $830 million last year, an increase of 29 percent from 2012.

Bilateral trade in 2013 reached $161 billion.

To facilitate increasing trade, China and Germany have improved cross currency settlement and logistics.

During Xi's visit to Germany in March, the countries agreed to launch a yuan trading center in Frankfurt, the first of its kind in the eurozone.

"The center will ease trade between China and Germany, as well as between China and the whole of Europe. Therefore, it will further boost bilateral trade as well as China-Europe business," Clauss said.

The logistics network will also inject new energy into trade.

In 2011, the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe International Railway was put into operation.

The complete trip takes 16 days, up to 20 days less than the usual shipping time. The cost is one-fifth that of transporting cargo by air.

"Germany is very interested in this new logistics line, which has great potential to boost bilateral trade. With the increasing popularity of the railway among German companies, it will be made use of more," Clauss said.

zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn