On the morning of April 23, 2012, Premier Wen Jiabao, accompanied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, came to Hall 6 of the Hanover Fair to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of China's Central Exhibition Zone at the fair. The two prime ministers visited the booths of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), China FAW Group Corporation, Siemens, ABB and other well-known Chinese and German enterprises with great interest. They listened to the introductions made by the management of these companies on the features and performance of their products and answered their questions.

Premier Wen said that the economic and trade relations between China and Germany have been developing rapidly and the technological cooperation is also growing vigorously. The two economies are highly interdependent upon each other. China will adhere to the opening-up policy and treat all the enterprises legally registered in China on an equal basis. China will continue to strengthen intellectual property right protection and welcomes foreign companies, including German ones, to invest in China. He expressed the belief that in the green and smart era, the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Germany will be more productive.

In the afternoon, the two leaders went on a coach and went to visit the headquarters of Volkswagen in Wolfsburg. The two prime ministers had an in-depth conversation on the coach. Premier Wen said that based on the existing well-established foundation for the Sino-German cooperation, the two sides may further develop a package of cooperation programs, covering large-scale economic and technological cooperation in infrastructure development, corporate investment, trade and finance. Chancellor Merkel responded positively to Premier Wen's proposal. The two sides agreed to instruct the respective departments to start consultations at an early possible date. Premier Wen and Chancellor Merkel also had an in-depth exchange of views on the Europe debt issues and regional hot issues such as the Afghan issue.

At Volkswagen, Wen and Merkel witnessed the signing of two joint statements, one between SAIC and Volkswagen on building a factory in Xinjiang and the other between FAW Group and Volkswagen on strengthening cooperation. The two prime ministers also visited new demo cars of Volkswagen and charging stations for electric vehicle. Wen told journalists that he brought with him the greetings of the Chinese auto workers to the auto workers in Germany. The cooperation in automobile industry is an important part of the all-round cooperation between China and Germany. Premier Wen expressed the belief that such cooperation can sustain and arrive at a greater height.