BERLIN, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The following is the full text of the speech given by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the China-Germany Forum: Shaping Innovation Together:
China and Germany: Building a Golden Partnership on Innovation
Speech by H.E. Li Keqiang
Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
At the China-Germany Forum: Shaping Innovation Together
Berlin, 1 June 2017
Chancellor Merkel,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,
It is a great pleasure to meet you in the beautiful city of Berlin. Boasting a time-honored history, the dynamism of a modern metropolis and the reputation as the European capital of innovation, Berlin provides a fitting venue for the China-Germany Forum on innovation. I am sure our discussions here will trigger and foster new inspirations, new ideas and new business opportunities. On behalf of the Chinese government, I wish to congratulate you on the success of the forum and pay tribute to all those who have worked for friendship and cooperation between our countries.
During my visit to Germany three years ago, our two countries issued a joint program of action on cooperation, with the theme of shaping innovation together. It is so far the most substantial joint document and the master plan on mid- to long-term innovation cooperation between our two countries. We Chinese often say, three years is a natural cycle for making real progress. Over the past three years, with the concerted efforts of people from all sectors, China-Germany innovation cooperation has taken solid steps. The competent departments of our two countries respectively issued the China Strategy and Germany Strategy, which is the first of its kind for science and technology cooperation between major countries.
We jointly built the first "Industry 4.0" demonstration production line in Shenyang, a concrete result of cooperation between "Made in China 2025" and "Industry 4.0." Metro trains jointly developed by CRRC and Siemens are sold to the United States, Brazil and other countries, showing the dynamism of China-Germany cooperation in third countries. Our research institutes and companies have created the "2+2" cooperation model, building a bridge connecting research findings with market application. Sino-German industrial parks in Shenyang, Qingdao, Wuhu, Jieyang and Taicang, each with its distinctive features, have emerged as the front-runners of our innovation cooperation.
Strong partnership for innovation has provided a powerful engine for China-Germany practical cooperation. In recent years, despite sluggish global trade, trade between China and Germany has been stable overall. According to German statistics, our two-way trade reached 170 billion euros last year. For the first time, China has become Germany's largest trading partner, and Germany now accounts for 30 percent of total China-EU trade. The technological content and added value in our trade have been steadily increasing. About 80 percent of German exports to China are mechanical and electrical products and chemical products, and two thirds of German imports from China are mechanical and electrical products.
Investment cooperation between the two countries has moved from a one-way street onto a two-way lane. German companies still see China as a key destination for investment, with their investment in China growing by 74 percent in 2016. Investment by Chinese companies in Germany has been fast expanding, exceeding 10 billion U.S. dollars in accumulative terms. Our personnel exchange has increased. There are more than 45,000 Chinese students in Germany, and over 30,000 experts and 8,000 students from Germany in China. It is fair to say that China-Germany innovation cooperation has become an example of cooperation between a developing country and a developed country, playing a pivotal role in China-EU cooperation on innovation.
The global economic landscape has been undergoing deep readjustment. A new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are in the making. This has presented unprecedented opportunities for innovation cooperation among countries. Germany excels in basic research, technology, invention and workmanship, and is well-known for being an innovation powerhouse. China, on its part, has a big market, abundant human resources, full-fledged industrial system and fast-growing Internet economy, which provide unique advantages in innovation. Such a strong complementarity in innovation resources has made our two countries natural partners. China is ready to enhance its golden partnership on innovation with Germany to multiply knowledge, added value and innovation efficiency through cooperation and boost our all-round cooperation with an upgraded innovation partnership.
We need to strengthen strategic guidance and steer our innovation cooperation along the right course. China-Germany innovation cooperation is not limited to science and technology, but also runs through cooperation in economic, social, cultural, ecological and security fields. We need to maintain close high-level exchanges, cement political mutual trust, and fully leverage the leading role of our inter-governmental consultation and other high-level dialogue mechanisms to ensure that our innovation cooperation continues to move in the right direction.
Next month, President Xi Jinping will visit Germany and attend the G20 Hamburg Summit. This will be an important opportunity to deepen our all-round strategic partnership and elevate innovation cooperation. We should speed up efforts to synergize our development strategies, namely, China's innovation-driven development strategy, "Made in China 2025" and "Internet plus" and Germany's "Industry 4.0" and High-Tech Strategy, and roll out more pilot projects. We should also enhance strategic coordination between China's Belt and Road Initiative and Germany's global development initiative, share major development opportunities and jointly tackle global challenges.
We need to follow a market-oriented approach and lay out a roadmap for innovation cooperation. Only when innovation is geared toward diverse market needs can it enjoy vast possibilities. China is ready to work with Germany to strengthen cooperation platforms in such areas as electric vehicles, clean water, future city and semiconductor illumination, and introduce new models for business development to better respond to ever higher consumer demands. In emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, the Internet of Things and new-generation information technologies, we will encourage the "2+2" model for international cooperation and speed up the efforts of applied research, and the transfer and application of technologies to better serve the needs of industrial upgrading.
In areas where we each have our comparative strengths, such as automobile, rail transport, infrastructure and agriculture, we need to enhance cooperation in R&D, production and manufacturing, promote the harmonization and mutual recognition of standards and jointly explore third-party markets. Basic research is the foundation of applied research. China is ready to learn from Germany's experience in basic research and encourage greater cooperation among universities and research institutes of our two countries with a view to producing a number of research outcomes with visible impact in frontier areas.
We need to promote integrated innovation of large, medium-sized and small enterprises and reshape the "ecosystem" for innovation cooperation. We should not just focus on innovation cooperation among large companies but also endeavor to promote cooperation among SMEs and integrated innovation among companies of different sizes. China and Germany both have "flagship" companies that are the backbone of their industries, but also countless SMEs spread across all sectors. Germany has some 1,300 "hidden champion" companies, which account for almost half of the world's total. China also has hundreds of thousands of high-tech SMEs, and a booming nationwide campaign of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Companies of different sizes each have their unique advantages for innovation. While big companies are strong in technology, capital and scaled production, the strengths of SMEs come from their innovative ideas, flexible business operation and sensitivity to the market. In the past, innovation cooperation was mostly conducted between big companies, and SMEs were mainly responsible for providing components or specialized services for big companies. This is a model of subordinate collaboration. Now, SMEs and big companies are engaged in two-way and equal cooperation on innovation. Through the Internet and other information platforms, many SMEs can now provide big companies with services covering the whole industrial chain, from R&D, production to management. This is a relationship of interconnected and integrated innovation. This new model and new trend of cooperation promises broad prospect.
China is ready to work with Germany to set up a government mechanism for SME cooperation, and promote networked and clustered innovation cooperation. We will build more service platforms for integrated innovation, and provide all-round services in policy consulting, training of professionals, project implementation, supply-demand matching and funding support. We will speed up the building of various types of Sino-German industrial clusters, and set up demonstration bases for integrated innovation of large, medium-sized and small enterprises. (more)
