Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Sino-Germany Cooperated Vocational Talent Training Base on December 6.[Photo by Sun Junjun]

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is on the state visit to China, came to Zhongshan on December 6 and visited Man Sum Information Technology Industrial Park and Sino-Germany Cooperated Vocational Talent Training Base in Sanjiao Town.

In the industrial park, Steinmeier was informed Zhongshan’s industrial development and traffic construction and had an understanding of economic and trade exchanges and cooperation between Zhongshan and Germany and investment situation of German companies in Zhongshan.

Many German companies came to Zhongshan to make investment since 1990s and became the participators, witnesses and beneficiaries of Zhongshan’s reform and opening-up.

In 2016, Zhongshan planned a 47,000sqm-large Sino-Germany Bio-pharmaceutical (Zhongshan) Industrial Park, which introduced German companies such as Baihui Gene, Creative Medical, and etc.

So far, there are 24 German-funded projects in Zhongshan, with a total investment of $172mn. They cover special equipment manufacturing, medicine production and other fields.

In 2017, Zhongshan’s total value of import and export to Germany amounted to $1.3bn, up by 15.1% from a year earlier.

In terms of education, Zhongshan is also forwarding school-running cooperation with Germany's Technische Hochschule Deggendorf and Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt.