German chancellor to visit China

BEIJING - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will pay an official visit to China from Oct. 29 to 30 at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced on Friday.

From German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to China, "we expect a further intensification of bilateral trade relations from which both countries can benefit," a German official has said.

Especially in certain areas of mechanical engineering and the automotive industry, China has become the largest market in the world, said Benno Bunse, CEO of Germany Trade and Invest, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

He added this potential has also been recognized by German companies.

"Thus, China climbed in 2014 to the fourth place in the German consumer countries. In 2013, China still ranked fifth. In imports, China is even in the second place after the Netherlands," Bunse said.

Conversely, Germany is the largest trading partner in the European Union for China. Untapped business opportunities can be found mainly in the consumer goods market, particularly in the food and clothing sectors, the official noted.

"The strong investment activity of German companies suggests the growing interdependence of the two economies," Bunse said.

According to Bunse, the German direct investment stock in China amounted to 47.8 billion euros (53.05 billion US dollars) in 2013 and another 5.1 billion euros flowed in China in the following year.

"The visit of the chancellor is once again driving forward the expansion of cooperation in innovative industries and the digitalization of production chains. Especially in 2015, the year of the innovation partnership between the two countries, the new possibilities of the changing innovation environment should be shared," he said.

Close cooperation between the two governments has clearly strengthened and promoted the intensive trade and investment relations in the last decade, he noted, adding that German exports to China have more than tripled since 2004, while imports of Chinese goods have more than doubled nowadays.

Meanwhile, Chinese investments in Germany have increased. According to a report by Germany Trade and Invest, China with 190 investment projects was the number one investor in Germany in 2014, Bunse said.

China has thus setting a new record and is also considerably ahead of the United States (168), and Switzerland (130).

"Through various political efforts, the German government contributes their part to the good relationship between China and Germany," Bunse added.