DRESDEN—Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrived in the eastern German city of Dresden Saturday morning to continue his Europe tour.
In a written statement released upon his arrival at the airport, Xi said China and Germany have enjoyed long-term friendship, and the relations have made new progress in recent years with fruitful cooperation in the fields of politics, trade and education as well as coordination on international and regional issues.
He said Sino-Germany relations are facing new opportunity for further development. "I am looking forward to exchanging views with German leaders on bilateral ties and other issues of common concern, and trying to have a better understanding of Germany and pushing forward the relationship," he said.
Xi will arrive in Berlin later in the day. In the German capital, he will hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and meet with President Horst Koehler. He will also attend the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Germany is the second leg of Xi's tour. He will also visit Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. Visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said here on Friday that China was likely to achieve the targeted annual economic growth of 8 percent.
Xi made the remarks when speaking to representatives from overseas Chinese compatriots and students and Chinese enterprises operating in Belgium. "We have been actively coping with the international financial crisis and taken a series of effective measures to ensure that China's economy can stabilize and move towards the right direction," Xi said.
Thanks to a package of effective macro-control measures and rescue plans, China recorded in the first half of this year a 7.1-percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP), he noted. Developing in such a pace, "we can achieve the expected annual growth of 8 percent," he said, adding that China still needed to do more to promote sound and rapid development of its economy as uncertainties in the country's and world's economic picture remained.
—Xinhua
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