On November 4, 2011, Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, met with Matthias Platzeck, governor of Brandenburg, in Berlin.

Since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in 1972, bilateral relations have been developing continuously and achieved fruitful results with the joint efforts of the two governments and peoples, said Jia. Bilateral ties have continued to maintain good momentum with frequent high-level contacts, expanding trade and economic cooperation, dynamic exchanges in education, science, technology, culture and justice and close coordination in major international and regional affairs, said Jia.

Jia said as next year is the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany, China will host the "Year of Chinese Culture" for the first time in Germany and attend Hannover Industrial Fair as a cooperative partner. China would like to take this opportunity to enhance political mutual trust, deepen pragmatic cooperation and push bilateral strategic partnership to a new level in the principle of mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win outcome.

Brandburg State plays a vital role in Sino-German cooperation by taking its comparative advantage of enterprises with unique competitiveness, as they are specialized in the fields from environment protection, traffic management, energy technology, to infrastructural construction, etc, said Jia. He welcomed the firms in Brandenburg State to get more involved in Chinese modernization drive and further enhance mutually beneficial cooperation in education, science and technology, culture, environmental protection and tourism. He hopes that personnel exchanges, particularly those among the younger generation, would be further enhanced. Jia expressed his belief that the cooperation between Brandenburg State and China's relevant provinces and cities will have broad prospect.

Platzeck recalled his cordial meeting with Chairman Jia six years ago. He said it's an honor to receive Jia in Brandenburg, which shows positive response and support to the cooperation between Brandenburg and China. China has a time-honored civilization. In recent years, Germany-China and EU-China relations have achieved remarkable development. As is often said in China, a crisis can be turned into an opportunity. Germany-China, EU-China cooperation faces important opportunities against the current backdrop that Europe is plunged into a serious debt crisis and China assumes increasingly more important role in stabilizing the world economy. Platzeck expressed his hope that Brandenburg State would give full play to its advantages in renewable energy and many other fields to boost cooperation with China.

Vice-Chairman and Secretary-General of the National Committee of the CPPCC Qian Yunlu, Chinese Ambassador to Germany Wu Hongbo and other officials attended the meeting.