Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday called for further joint efforts to deepen economic and trade cooperation between China and Germany.

Remarkable achievements have been made in economic and trade cooperation between the two countries thanks to joint efforts of both sides, said Hu, who is here on a three-day state visit to Germany.

Sino-German economic and trade cooperation has huge potentials and broad prospects, he said at a banquet hosted by the Asian-Pacific Committee of the German Business.

In a five-point proposal, Hu said China and Germany should expand their cooperation in the following areas: increasing bilateral trade volume and optimizing the trade structure; expanding channels for cooperation and seek new areas of investment; encouraging cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises of the two countries, as well as the big ones; strengthening cultural and human exchanges and personnel training; and increasing dialogues and consultations and improving the environment for cooperation.

He emphasized that bilateral economic and trade cooperation is not only an important component of, but also a key driving force behind the development of the overall Sino-German relationship.

Sino-German trade amounted to 54.1 billion US dollars last year, a 200-fold increase over 1972 when China and Germany established diplomatic ties, the Chinese president said, but adding there are still great potentials to be tapped.

"There exists a great potential," he said. "Last year, we agreed to strive to double our annual two-way trade volume by 2010 (as compared with that of 2003). If the present pace of growth is kept, it is fully possible to meet the target well ahead of the schedule."

With the acceleration of the development of China's high-tech industries and services, China and Germany should strengthen cooperation in high-tech technologies and sophisticated technical equipment, he said.

The development of China's western regions involves more than 60 big projects in such areas as infrastructure, energy and environmental protection, with the total investment amounting to 100 billion dollars, Hu said.

He also called on the German side to ease restrictions on market access to create favorable conditions for Chinese enterprises willing to invest in Germany.

Noting that China's fast economic growth offers huge opportunities for foreign investors, the Chinese president urged German enterprises to continue to explore the Chinese market with their high-quality products, first-class technologies and abundant capital.

Trade disputes should be resolved through increased dialogues and consultations and on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and this should become an important principle for the development of bilateral trade relations, he added.

The Chinese president, who arrived here earlier Thursday, will hold talks with German leaders and meet with personalities from political, business, educational and other circles in Germany.

Source: Xinhua