Trade and investment go hand in hand-China-Germany economic and trade cooperation has huge potential
Our newspaper's Berlin correspondent Xie Fei
The recent frequent interactions between China and Germany have highlighted the strong momentum of cooperation between the two countries in multiple fields.
At present, the enthusiasm of companies from both countries to invest in each other's markets is growing.
It is expected that in the next period of time, environmental protection technology, renewable energy, new energy vehicles, robotics and automation, and aerospace technology will become the focus of German companies' investment in China.
The latest data show that China has not only become Germany's most important trading partner for five consecutive years, but the bilateral trade volume has bucked the trend and has become a rare growth point for Germany's foreign trade despite the severe impact of global trade.
In 2020, the bilateral trade volume between China and Germany will reach 212 billion Euros.
In the same year, China became Germany's second largest export market.
Not long ago, the two sides held the sixth round of China-Germany government consultations to jointly emphasize the importance of deepening cooperation in various fields such as economy and trade, investment, automobile manufacturing, and new energy to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
China and Germany also signed the "China-Germany Joint Statement of Intent on Cooperation in the Field of Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development", and held the 10th China-Germany Economic and Technical Cooperation Forum.
The recent frequent interactions between the two sides in various fields have highlighted the strong momentum of China-Germany cooperation in economic and trade, environmental protection, technology and other fields in the context of the global economy being hit by the epidemic.
Christina Ott, an expert at the German Federal Agency for Foreign Trade and Investment, said in an interview with a reporter from the Economic Daily that China's economy has recovered rapidly thanks to effective epidemic prevention and control and active and stable economic policies.
German companies in China are also optimistic about China's economic development.
While successfully defeating the epidemic, China continued to deepen its reforms. As a result, the previous model that relied more on foreign trade was transformed into a diversified sustainable development model that stimulated domestic demand, focused on innovation and the export of high-tech products.
She said that China and Germany face common challenges and have common interests in tackling climate change, energy conservation and emission reduction.
This determines that the two countries should continue to deepen cooperation in related fields to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
For a long time, China and the EU have carried out fruitful cooperation on climate change and other aspects.
In the future, there is still huge room for cooperation between the two parties in the fields of pollution control, old industrial zone renovation, sewage treatment and recycling.
At present, the enthusiasm of the companies of the two countries to invest in each other's markets continues to grow.
According to statistics from the German Chamber of Foreign Trade, more than 5,000 German companies have branches or offices in China.
In 2019, German companies invested nearly 90 billion euros in China.
The latest "Report on Foreign Companies' Investment in Germany 2020" released by the German Federal Agency for Foreign Trade and Investment shows that a total of 1,684 projects have settled in Germany in 2020, a decrease of 9% compared with 2019, while the number of Chinese investment projects in Germany during the same period was 170 , A year-on-year growth of 10% against the trend.
Otter believes that from the perspective of the development trend of Sino-German economic and trade cooperation, environmental protection technology, renewable energy, new energy vehicles, robotics and automation, industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, aerospace technology, biomedicine and other industries will become German companies in the future. The key areas of China's business investment.
On the one hand, China’s hyperscale market provides huge opportunities for German companies; on the other hand, China’s market potential also provides an important platform for these industries to respond to global challenges.
Of course, with the development of Chinese companies in related fields, foreign companies will also face more competition from local companies in these industries.
Dennis Wilkins, the representative of the German Federal Agency for Foreign Trade and Investment in China, said that Chinese companies are currently very active in the international market. For example, Chinese companies can be seen in the fields of life sciences, digital infrastructure, transportation and renewable energy. .
The German side welcomes Chinese companies to invest in Germany very much.
Many market analysts said that at present, economic and trade cooperation between China and Germany has become a highlight of the German economy under the epidemic, and economic and trade relations with China have become an important pillar of the German economic recovery after the epidemic.
The bilateral economic and trade relations between China and Germany have developed steadily, which has injected new vitality into the recovery of German companies after the epidemic.
Our newspaper's Berlin correspondent Xie Fei