As this year marks the beginning of China's 15th Five-Year Plan period, China-Germany economic and trade cooperation will embrace increased opportunities over the next five years, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday when holding talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Beijing.

China is willing to work with Germany to give full play to dialogue mechanisms including government consultations, strengthen alignment of development strategies and policy communication, and expand and improve trade ties between the two nations, Li said.

Li called on both sides to invigorate traditional cooperation in sectors such as automobiles and chemicals, expand cooperation in emerging fields like artificial intelligence and biopharmaceuticals, and cultivate more new growth drivers for the economy.

China will import more high-quality products from Germany and encourage and support Chinese enterprises to invest in Germany, he said, expressing the hope that Germany will provide a fair, stable and predictable business environment.

Merz said that Germany is willing to strengthen high-level exchanges with China, maintain regular dialogue in various fields, promote the balanced and sustainable development of bilateral economic and trade relations, and foster cooperation in areas such as green transformation and climate change response.

Germany is also willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China and jointly advocate multilateralism and free trade, said the chancellor, noting that Germany is ready to play a positive role in advancing EU-China relations.

After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of cooperation documents in fields such as green transition, customs, sports and media.

Merz arrived in Beijing on Wednesday morning for an official visit to China through Thursday. This is his first visit to China since taking office.