On the afternoon of December 7th, Mr. Peng Qinghua, Secretary of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the CPC, and Mr. Yin Li, Vice Secretary of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the CPC and Governor of People’s Government of Sichuan Province, met with Mr. Steinmeier President of Germany in Chengdu.

　　On behalf of the provincial party committee and the provincial government, Mr. Peng Qinghua welcomed Mr. Steinmeier to Sichuan and expressed his gratitude to the German government and the German people for their support and assistance in the reconstruction after the Wenchuan earthquake. He said that the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Germany has developed in an all-round way in recent years under the joint promotion of the leaders of the two countries, thus fruitful results have been achieved during the bilateral cooperation in various fields. Against that backdrop, Sichuan has shared closer exchanges and cooperation with various regions in Germany. On our part, we would like to take this visit of President Mr. Steinmeier as an opportunity to strengthen friendly exchanges between the local governments on our two sides, establish friendly relations at all levels, engage in closer economic and trade exchanges, expand two-way investment, deepen pragmatic cooperation in the fields of science, technology, education, culture, tourism and sports, and jointly build platforms for Sino-German innovative industry cooperation. All of these endeavors would help promote the exchanges and cooperation between the two sides to a new and higher level.

　　Mr. Steinmeier said that this is his second time to visit Sichuan in 10 years and he is more than happy to set foot for one more time on this beautiful land. In recent years, Sichuan has made admirable achievements, especially its great achievements in the post-earthquake reconstruction. The friendly exchanges between Germany and Sichuan date back for a long history. In recent years, cooperation in various fields has strengthened continuously. German companies have sunk large sums of investments in Sichuan and gained sound returns. More and more Germans come to Sichuan for tourism, which has deepened the friendship between the people of German and Sichuan. Germany and Sichuan share a good foundation for cooperation and strong industrial complementarity. He hoped that the two sides will consolidate such cooperation to bring about more tangible results in the fields of automobile manufacturing, parts matching, technological innovation, exchanges among friendly cities, cultural tourism, and so on. That will help promote the common development and prosperity of various regions in Germany and Sichuan.

　　Mr. Steinle, German Secretary of state at the Presidential palace, Federal Councilor Durzy and Dalygoetz, Mr. Goetze, German Ambassador to China, Mr. Rimscha, German Consul General in Chengdu, Mr. Shi Mingde, Chinese Ambassador to Germany, Mr. Wang Minghui, member of the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee of CPC and Secretary-General, attended the meeting.