Premier Wen, Chancellor Merkel visit entrepreneurs

TIANJIN, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday that China-Germany economic and trade relations have long-term and strategic significance, calling for both sides to facilitate market access and investment and create a level playing field for businesses.

Wen made the remarks after travelling with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Tianjin Municipality to meet with Chinese and German entrepreneurs, following their co-chairing of the second round of Chinese-German intergovernmental consultations in Beijing on Thursday.

Reaffirming their consensus that Germany and China's current dispute over solar panel import duties should be resolved through consultations rather than anti-dumping proceedings, Wen said this principle applies not only to solar panels, but also to communication and other industries. "This is an important foundation of our cooperation," he added.

The premier said he hopes bilateral investment can expand in a sustainable and healthy manner. According to Wen, Chinese enterprises in Germany still have a long way to go compared with German enterprises in China, in terms of their business scale and number. Currently, Chinese investment in Germany is no more than 2 billion U.S. dollars -- a small fraction of German investment in China.

In regards to patent protection, Wen said the quality of patents is more important than the quantity, and all the patent catalogues should be made public.

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