For Klaus Schmidt, German Consul-General(CG) in Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan province, German cars in the streets, myriad imported food in Metro supermarket and the Sino-German Dianchi Lake Water Treatment Project are good examples of friendly exchanges between Germany and Yunnan.

In 2016, Yunnan and Germany maintained good momentum in their economic and trade cooperation, increasing their shared trade volume to 270 million US dollars. Data from the Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce shows that Yunnan achieved exports of 130 million US dollars and imports of 140 million US dollars in its trade with Germany last year.

However, Mr. Schmidt found the cooperation and exchanges between Yunnan and Germany inadequate. On February 16, Mr. Schmidt came to Kunming to show support for the German Energy Transformation Multimedia Exhibition. “Currently, there are not many cooperative projects between the two places. The consulate will continue to help German companies expand their presence in Yunnan. We will vigorously introduce new projects and enhance exchanges at multiple levels,” he said during an interview with local media.

Mr. Schmidt explained that, “Yunnan now attaches great importance to developing football. We will promote football-related exchanges between German teams and those in Kunming to provide young people with opportunities to train in Germany. German-speaking Chinese people will have more job opportunities, and we hope that more Chinese young people will be interested in the German language, German culture and German life.”

This year marks the 45^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany.Mr. Schmidt hopes to take this opportunity to promote Yunnan-Germany cooperation in environmental protection, urban planning, student exchanges, tourism and other fields. He welcomes new ideas for new cooperation projects.