Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with visiting German Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel in Beijing, capital of China, April 22, 2014. (Xinhua/Wang Ye) 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with visiting German Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel on Tuesday.

Li said President Xi Jinping's Germany visit in March has promoted bilateral relations and cooperation. Li also welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to pay an official visit to China this year.

He said China, to maintain steady, sustained and sound economic growth, will deepen its reform, balance the relationship between the government and the market, expand market access, adjust economic structure, as well as develop clean energy and energy conservation and environmental protection technology.

These measures will bring huge opportunities for companies worldwide, he added.

Gabriel said Germany is ready to support China's comprehensive reform, and hopes China will be a destination for investment and technology.

Germany will strengthen cooperation with China in innovation and technology research and development to create more opportunities for the two countries, Gabriel said.

Premier Li promotes wider market access

China offers a huge market and business opportunities to global investors during its continuous efforts to widen market access and deepen opening-up, Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday.

He made the remarks during a meeting with German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who is leading a large economic and trade delegation to Beijing.

Saying that the world's second-largest economy has achieved stable and progressive economic expansion in the first quarter, Li said China eyes stable economic growth not only now but in the future.

To this end, China will continue to allow the market to play a better role in allocating resources, expand market access for investors, develop the use of clean energy resources and energy conservation technologies as well as carry out people-oriented urbanization.

All this will bring a huge market and business opportunities for global companies, including those in Germany, Li said.

China has reported first-quarter GDP growth of 7.4 percent year-on-year, beating market expectations of 7.2 percent to 7.3 percent.

Gabriel, who is also German economic affairs and energy minister, said his country is keen to "accompany and support" China as Beijing proceeds with deepened reforms. He said he hopes China will become a destination for German investment and technology exports.

Gabriel also met with Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng in Beijing on Tuesday.

Gao told the German delegation that China pays a high degree of attention to ecological problems encountered during industrialization, such as energy, land and water resources, and the two sides can see huge potential for cooperation in this field.

It is the second German delegation to visit China this month, with Li also meeting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on April 15.

During his visit, Steinmeier traveled to Hebei province, home to heavy industries such as steel, coal and glass, and a major source of air pollution in northern China.

Steinmeier said Germany wanted to share its experience with China, because it had experienced a similar economic and social transition.

China and Germany to boost co-op in energy technology sector

In China for a two-day visit, Germany's economy and energy minister has said firms back home would stand to benefit from Beijing's planned shift to cleaner energy. But some obstacles had yet to be overcome.

German Economy and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said at a forum in Beijing on Tuesday the Chinese leadership had realized the country's growth model of the past had come at a huge cost for the environment. He said there was agreement much greater energy efficiency and a big reduction in harmful greenhouse gas emissions was urgently required in the face of poisoned rivers and massive air pollution.

"That's why I believe that it will be absolutely critical for the Chinese economy to invest heavily in sustainable and environmentally-friendly growth," Gabriel said in his address to policy-makers and energy experts.

Xu Shaoshi, the head of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Xu Shaoshi , said he'd welcome a much closer cooperation with German companies in the field of environmental protection and the energy sector, arguing that Germany was able to offer top-notch technology as the country was in the middle of an unparalleled energy transition.

Fair competition a must

"The combination of German innovative clout and Chinese speed in implementing economic measures could go a long way towards stetting a global example of how best to reduce harmful emissions," Xu maintained.

China is Germany's biggest trade partner outside the European Union. In 2013, bilateral trade amounted to 140 billion euros ($193.2 billion).