Chen Qiuxiong, deputy Party secretary of Xiamen, meets with a trade delegation led by Volker Wissing, deputy governor of Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate, on April 11. [Photo/xmfo.gov.cn]

A trade delegation led by Volker Wissing, deputy governor of Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate, visited Xiamen, Fujian province from April 11 to 12 to discuss economic, scientific, and educational cooperation with the coastal city.

Chen Qiuxiong, deputy Party secretary of Xiamen, met with the delegation and briefed them on the city's economic, social, and industrial development.

Xiamen is a pivotal city along the Belt and Road Initiative route and has maintained favorable economic and trade relations with Germany, with a total of 16.32 billion yuan ($2.58 billion) in trade between them in 2017.

Chen said Xiamen plans to send a delegation to Trier, Karl Marx's hometown, to mark his 200th birth anniversary as well as the opening ceremony of a park named after Xiamen.

He hoped that the two parties would achieve further cooperation in culture, education, tourism, environmental protection, artificial intelligence and the Belt and Road Initiative.

The deputy governor discussed Rhineland-Palatinate's performance in artificial intelligence and driverless technology and expressed his desire to join China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Xiamen Park in Trier, co-built by the two cities and completed in November 2017, was designed and built by designers and an engineering company from Xiamen. Based on the original appearance of the site, the park includes design features such as south Fujian's red bricks, as well as distinct stones and other elements from Xiamen.

An exchange activity between enterprises from Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate and China's Xiamen is organized during the German delegation's visit. [Photo/xmfo.gov.cn]