CRI听力:China-Germany Ties at Historical Best: German Ambassador

"I believe that German-Chinese relations are at their historic best these days. And Germany is obviously the most important partner for China in economic and political things in Europe."

German Ambassador Michael Clauss makes the suggestion ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's 2-day visit to China, which will kick off on Thursday.

The ambassador notes that China and Germany have taken part in a number of high-level political exchanges in recent years, with both the Chinese President and Premier visiting Berlin and the Chancellor herself also coming to Beijing last year.

Clauss says stronger business cooperation will be the top priority on Angela Merkel's agenda this week.

"We have 6,000 companies here, German companies in China, which is 10 times more than, for example, the UK has. And she will be accompanied again by a small but very high-ranking economic delegation and it will be partially CEOs of big companies like Volkswagen, which is the company which is most strongly invested into China. And she will also be accompanied by CEOs of small- and-medium-sized companies who are the backbone of German economic strength and innovation."

On top of meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing, Angela Merkel will also make a stop-over in Anhui's capital, Hefei, where she will attend a meeting of the Sino-German Advisory Committee on Economics, together with Li Keqiang.

Germany is currently China's biggest partner in Europe in terms of trade and investment.

Trade volumes between China and Germany hit 177.8-billion US dollars in 2014, accounting for around 30 percent of China's overall trade with the European Union.

German Ambassador Michael Clauss says quite a lot of trade with China is coming in the area of high-tech.

"And also the framework is quite beneficial and positive for Chinese companies, a lot of legal safety; and on the other hand you have a very strong research and development environment. And there is a strong tradition in Germany that companies and research and development institutions closely work together in order to promote innovation, technological innovation."

A recent German Trade and Invest report shows China was the largest investor in Germany in 2014, followed by the United States and Japan.

For CRI, I am Zhou Jingnan.