Xinhua Headlines: With Li’s visit, China, Europe committed to free trade

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his wife ended their trip to Europe Tuesday with a private dinner with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband at Hugos Restaurant with a panoramic view from the top floor of InterContinental Hotel in Berlin.

China and Europe, the world’s two major economic forces, delivered a clear and encouraging message that they will stay committed to supporting open and free trade to promote strong, sustainable and balanced global growth.

TO EXPAND CHINA-EUROPE TIES

"As long as we insist on pursuing open cooperation, mutual benefits and win-win result, while staying down-to-earth with firm confidence, the 16+1 cooperation will surely be promoted steadily and will add greater contributions to China-European Union (EU) ties and the world’s openness and prosperity," Li said on Saturday at the meeting between China and 16 CEE countries.

With six years of development, the fruitful achievements of 16+1 mechanism, a cross-regional cooperation platform, have exceeded expectation, as bilateral trade volume grew to almost 70 billion U.S. dollars from 40 billion.

China’s accumulated investment in CEE countries has reached nearly 10 billion dollars while the CEE countries have invested more than 1.4 billion dollars in China.

During Li’s stay in Bulgaria, China and CEE countries jointly issued a guideline for their cooperation, and the leaders witnessed the signing of more than 20 cooperation documents.

Addressing the eighth China-CEEC business forum, Li said 16+1 cooperation is an important part of and a useful complement to China-EU cooperation, and it not only facilitates the development of the two sides, but also helps narrow the gaps within the EU and advance European integration.

TO OFFER BIG BOOST FOR FREE TRADE

Throughout his trip in Europe, Li repeatedly underlined China’s resolve to preserve free trade and the multilateral trade regime, which serve as important drivers of world economic growth.

While addressing the issues of safeguarding multilateralism and free trade, opposing protectionism and containing trade disputes, he said trade disputes not only harm the interests of related sides, but also are detrimental to the interests of all parties involved in the global industrial chain.

TO CREATE NEW PROSPECTS FOR INNOVATION COOPERATION

Joined by Merkel, Li attended on Tuesday an autopilot exhibition between the two countries, an event that indicates stronger bilateral cooperation in the innovation industry.

They viewed three autopilot test vehicles produced by six enterprises and technological institutes from China and Germany.

Since the two countries adopted a joint action plan known as "shaping innovation together" in 2014, they have been advancing ties in such areas as molecular medicine, green and lightweight mobility and intelligent manufacturing.

China is pursuing a new round of opening up and will further relax market access to the automobile sector, Li said. He welcomes German companies to continue to expand investment in China, cooperate more in high-tech fields and jointly seize opportunities in market competition in the future.

In a joint statement released after their inter-governmental consultations, China and Germany agreed that cooperation in scientific research and innovation is an important pillar of bilateral cooperation, and both sides welcome more cooperation by their scientists in cutting-edge and basic research fields.