Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to Germany will shape the strategic direction for the development of the China-German relations for the next five to 10 years, Chinese Ambassador to Germany Shi Mingde has said.

During the visit, which is to begin Friday, Xi will meet German leaders and the two sides are expected to sign cooperation agreements in various fields.

The most obvious feature of the current bilateral ties is frequent high-level contacts between leaders of the two countries, Shi said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

He said China and Germany will witness a larger number of exchanges of high-level visits in 2014, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier are all planning to visit China.

Meanwhile, the heads of government of the two countries will co-chair the third round of China-Germany intergovernmental consultations.

"The relations between China and Germany have a very solid political foundation, with mutual political trust being a precondition for bilateral cooperation," said the ambassador.

The China-Germany economic and trade relations, which have become increasingly closer, are at the forefront of China's economic and trade ties with European countries both in terms of depth and breadth, Shi said.

Germany is the largest European trade partner and an important source of investment and technology for China. Bilateral trade reached 161.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2013, 580 times that of 1972 when the two countries established diplomatic relations.

The China-Germany trade accounts for nearly one third of that between China and Europe, and is equal to the total sum of China's trade with Britain, France and Italy.

Shi said both China and Germany have entered a new stage of development, with China endorsing a series of measures to deepen reform; and Germany's grand coalition government has adopted a new ruling program.

Under the current circumstances, he noted, there is a great deal of common ground in bilateral cooperation between the two sides.

Taking the "new four modernizations" as an example, which is a strategic focus of China's future development and includes industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, the ambassador pointed out that cooperation in these areas will bring new opportunities.

"Germany has advanced technology and well-established management concept and experience. Bilateral cooperation in these fields has a priority in the long-term development of the China-Germany partnership," he said.

"We hope to give the strategic partnership between the two countries more substantive content, so that it can better serve the development of both nations," he added.

Shi said China and Germany have worked together to tackle challenges since the outbreak of the global financial crisis and played a very important role.

Moreover, the two countries share common or similar views on important international and regional issues, and have maintained close consultation and coordination in international organizations, said the ambassador.

"The joint response of both sides to global challenges has not only promoted the deepening and expansion of bilateral ties, but also made vital contributions to world peace and stability, as well as recovery and development of the global economy," he said.

The people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Germany are very close and have enhanced the friendship between the two peoples, Shi noted.

He said more than 30,000 Chinese students are studying in Germany, the biggest overseas student community in the country. More than 500 partnerships have been established between universities and research institutions of the two countries.

In addition, there are more than 70 pairs of closely-linked sister cities between China and Germany, he added.

Xi's visit is the first ever to Germany by a Chinese head of state in eight years, the ambassador said, adding that the visit "will help promote the strategic and long-term development of bilateral relations."