The China-Germany Forum: Shaping Innovation Together took place in Berlin on June 1, and Taicang, in a key role, showcased its reinforced ties with Germany at the event.

The forum aimed to further talks on the "German Industry 4.0" proposal and to help promote China-Germany cooperation in the intelligent sectors, principally manufacturing, smart automobiles, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang gives a keynote speech at the forum. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Hu Jie, deputy mayor of Taicang, the only regional government representative present at the forum, delivered an important speech on "Practices and explorations made in China-Germany (Taicang) Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Park". [Photo provided to China Daily]

Hu emphasized in her speech that Germany has launched over 260 projects funded with more than 20.5 billion yuan ($3 billion) in Taicang, from which it has gained more than 40 billion yuan in revenue, making Taicang a home to German businesses in China.

Hu Jie (fourth from left) in a group photograph with guests at the China-Germany intelligent manufacturing session. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Taicang has launched provincial programs such as an international intelligent manufacturing park and German students pioneer park, and developed close relations with Germany especially in the technical field.

Relations between Taicang and Germany are long established and prospering. In 2008 the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy selected Taicang as a pioneer to boost business exchanges between the two countries. Taicang is the first Chinese city set as a model for China-Germany SMEs and the only base providing for China-Germany intellectual rights protection. The county-level city was included in 2016 in China’s macro plan to co-work on innovation with Germany by the Chinese Science and Technology Ministry.

This year’s "Taicang Day" campaign, an annual event started ten years ago, was recently completed in Germany to continue to foster mutual business ties.

The German Center that was created in Taicang in 2016 is Germany's third largest in China after Beijing and Shanghai and the eighth largest in the world outside of Germany itself.

The German Center Taicang opens on June 2, 2016 in East China's Jiangsu province. It acts as a bridge to help both German businesses enter Chinese markets and Chinese enterprises reach European markets. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The zone, as Taicang Mayor Wang Jianguo has said, is intended to pioneer implementation of the "Made in China 2025" and "German Industry 4.0" proposals, and facilitate the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (B&R) initiatives as well as the Yangtze River Economic Zone.

Over the next five years the city is scheduled to increase German-funded businesses to 400, bring in more cutting edge technologies, solutions, equipment and talents and create more exchange opportunities.

From June 12 to 14, Taicang will hold a one-week event for Chinese and German young people to communicate and compete in startup plans.