The "China (Sichuan)—Germany New Urbanization Cooperation Forum," co-hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Sichuan Provincial People's Government, was held in Chengdu. German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Wang Dongming, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress, attended the opening ceremony, and Wei Hong, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Governor, delivered a speech. Sichuan's accelerated advancement of new urbanization has attracted increasing attention. On the morning of July 6, the "China (Sichuan)—Germany New Urbanization Cooperation Forum," co-hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Sichuan Provincial People's Government, was held in Chengdu.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Wang Dongming, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress, attended the opening ceremony, and Wei Hong, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Governor, delivered a speech.

In her speech, Merkel said that Germany pays attention not only to the development of China's eastern coastal regions but also to the rapidly rising development of western China. Sichuan is an important province in western China, and Chengdu is an ancient city as well as a young and modern metropolis, attracting a large number of farmers from rural areas into the city every year, which has brought challenges to the local government in areas such as transportation, housing and aging. Western China cannot simply copy the development model of the eastern coastal areas. Sichuan and eastern Germany have much in common, especially the "latecomer" advantage in advancing urbanization, and have the opportunity to use the latest technologies in fields such as transportation, housing, and environmental protection and energy conservation to achieve more sustainable and high-quality urbanization. Germany is willing to assist Sichuan in its strategy of interactive development of industrialization and urbanization and coordinated urban-rural development, and hopes that the business communities of Sichuan and Germany will strengthen cooperation so that Sichuan's new urbanization will focus not only on the next ten or twenty years but also on a more distant future.

On behalf of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government, Wei Hong welcomed Chancellor Merkel and the German economic delegation on their visit to Sichuan. He said that in recent years, against the backdrop of the in-depth development of China-Germany relations, Sichuan and Germany have developed closer economic and trade ties and continuously deepened friendly cooperation. Chancellor Merkel's visit to China with a delegation, with Sichuan as the first stop, will surely bring Sichuan-Germany exchanges and cooperation into a new stage of development. China's urbanization is regarded as one of the most breathtaking events of this century and also China's greatest development potential. Sichuan's urbanization is accelerating, bringing huge market opportunities and investment demand while also posing challenges to urban construction, industrial employment and government management. We earnestly hope to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Germany in areas such as new urbanization construction, and sincerely welcome friends from the German business community to visit and exchange with Sichuan, participate in Sichuan's new urbanization process, and share the opportunities of new urbanization development.

The forum was themed "New Urbanization——New Opportunities for China-Germany Cooperation." Hubert Lienhard, Chairman of Voith GmbH and Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business, Stefan Schreiber, Chairman of ALBA Group, and Joachim Faust, Partner of HPP International Architecture and Planning Group, among others, introduced Germany's experience in new urbanization construction as well as innovative technologies and products. Chengdu, Deyang and other cities of our province introduced the planning and construction of new urban districts, progress in advancing new urbanization, and new opportunities for strengthening investment and industrial cooperation with Germany.

Before attending the forum, Wang Dongming and Wei Hong, together with Merkel, viewed the exhibition boards of Chengdu Xinzhu Road & Bridge Machinery Co., Ltd. and were briefed on the cooperation project between Xinzhu Road & Bridge Machinery and Siemens as well as the prospects for the development of rail transit in Sichuan.

It is reported that Germany has become Sichuan's largest source of investment in the EU and an important trading partner, and Sichuan has become one of Germany's most important economic and trade partners in western China. In 2013, the import and export volume between Sichuan and Germany reached US$1.9 billion. At present, a number of German Fortune Global 500 enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises such as Volkswagen and Siemens have invested in Sichuan, involving fields such as automobile manufacturing, engineering machinery, pharmaceutical and chemical industries, logistics and finance.

Shi Mingde, Chinese Ambassador to Germany; Wang Chao, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs; Stefan Kapferer, State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; Steffen Seibert, State Secretary and Spokesperson of the Federal Government of Germany; Michael Clauss, German Ambassador to China; Zhong Mian, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and Vice Governor; Huang Xinchu, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Chengdu Municipal Party Committee; Chen Guangzhi, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and Secretary-General; and Ge Honglin, Mayor of Chengdu, attended the opening ceremony of the forum. Vice Governor Gan Lin presided over the ceremony.

More than 240 people attended the forum, including heads of world-renowned German enterprises such as Siemens, Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, ThyssenKrupp and Lufthansa, more than 40 heads of German enterprises in China organized by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, more than 80 representatives of Sichuan enterprises such as Lutianhua, Huaxi Energy, Bohong and Xinchen Power, and heads of relevant cooperation parks.