15th Meeting of Sino-German Joint Committee of Economic Cooperation was held in Beijing on August 30. Mr. Gao Hucheng, China International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of Commerce, and Mr. Philipp Rösler, Deputy Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics and Technology , chaired jointly the Meeting.

Gao Hucheng said that China and Germany has achieved fruitful results in economic and trade cooperation in various fields since November 2008. The scale of bilateral trade and investment is expanded continually. Two-way investment accelerated, especially investment by Chinese enterprises in Germany. The bilateral economic and trade relations have entered into a new stage of development.

Gao Hucheng pointed out that the signing of Sino-German Joint Statement on Promoting Two-way Investment and setup ofg a Council of Economic Advisers is an important strategic decision made by our leaders of great foresight to build a good platform for exchange and cooperation between enterprises of the two countries. Gao Hucheng also put forward several proposals on expanding cooperation intwo-way investment: I. To regard investment and cooperation from a strategic perspective; The two countries have decided to establish Investment Cooperation Forum under the framework of the Joint Committee of the Sino-German economic cooperation and hope that the Forum would become an influential authority Investment Promotion and professional exchange platform. II. To strengthen exchange and cooperation among investment promotion agencies; MOFCOM will actively promote the establishment of investment advisory and promotion agencies in Germany, and support the establishment of Chamber of Commerce in Germany set up by Chinese-funded enterprises. III. German government are to strengthen policy coordination and linkage of its embassies and consulates, investment promotion agencies, immigration and labor departments so as to provide more convenience for Chinese enterprises to settling down and operating following-up.

Gao Hucheng said that we should continue to promote regional trade and economic cooperation between China and Germany. Local governments and enterprises are the main force of foreign trade and economic cooperation, and have played an integral role in the Sino-German economic and trade cooperation. MOFCOM attaches great importance to Sino-German Ecological Park in Qingdao, Sino-German business cooperation base in Taicang and Shenyang, Sino-German industrial service area in Foshan, as well as cooperation between Germany and Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, and hopes that China could work with German side to provide local economic and trade cooperation more policy support and guidance, give a full play to its exemplary role, and comprehensively improve the level of Sino-German economic and trade cooperation.

Mr. Rösler said that German is willing to make joint efforts withChina to achieve the goal of US$ 280 billion in bilateral trade. Two-way direct investment is very important. German has noticed the efforts made by China in market access. German welcome Chinese enterprises to invest in Germany and also hope that their enterprises would be welcome to invest in China and China would continue to improve the investment environment. German side will actively support Qingdao Sino-German eco-park and other local projects and hope more German small-and-median size enterprises to invest in China.

Mr. Rösler pointed out that German government and the business community support the concept of free trade and against the abuse of trade remedy. German government agreed with China's position on the trade friction between China and the EU in the field of photovoltaic products and wireless communication products, and looks forward to China and EU to solve the problem through negotiations and dialogues.

The two sides also exchanged views on issues of expanding the scale of bilateral trade, including, export financing, government procurement, export of raw materials, standardization and certification, and the feasibility of China-European Free Trade Area.