China, Germany see economic potential

cctv.com 12-08-2004 08:54

China and Germany have signed a record number of commercial agreements during Chancellor Schroeder's stay in Beijing. And China's Ministry of Commerce says there's great potential for even further cooperation.

Germany and China have signed a 22-agreement worth 3.3 billion US dollars during Schroeder's stay in Beijing. Germany is now China's largest European trade partner. Bilateral trade is expected to reach 50 billion dollars this year. But during Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Germany in May, the two countries agreed to double that figure by 2010.

Deputy Director of European Affairs Dept., Ministry of Commerce Li Haiyan said, "In the first ten months of this year, Sino-German trade totaled more than 43 billion dollars, a 31 percent rise year on year. Given this growth rate and the way the two economies complement each other, we're pretty sure we'll manage to double trade by 2010, as long as nothing unexpected gets in the way."

The ministry official said last year's bilateral trade volume of more than 40 billion dollars made up nearly 5 percent of China's total foreign trade. But he said there was still plenty of room for the two sides to increase their commercial collaboration and he was optimistic that bilateral trade would reach new record highs.

China is already Germany's second largest trading partner outside the European Union, following the United States.

Editor:Hu  Source:CCTV.com