On the afternoon of September 12, Yin Yong, Mayor of Beijing, met with Henriette Reker, Mayor of Cologne, Germany.

Yin noted that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the all-round strategic partnership between China and Germany. This April, President Xi Jinping and Chancellor Olaf Scholz met in Beijing and agreed to continue strengthening strategic communication and deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, steering the direction for the bilateral relations. As a front-runner in further opening up China’s services sector, Beijing has shown robust momentum in developing its services industry and trade in services, creating ample opportunities for deepening cooperation between the two sides. Over the past 37 years of the sister-city relationship, Beijing and Cologne have engaged in fruitful and win-win cooperation across various fields. He expressed Beijing’s commitment to working with Cologne to implement the important consensus reached by the two leaders and deepen exchanges and cooperation in services trade, renewable energy, education, culture, and other areas. He welcomed German enterprises to actively participate in platforms for open cooperation, such as the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), to share development opportunities and jointly contribute to the steady and sustained growth of China-Germany relations.

Henriette Reker highly praised Beijing’s achievements in cultural heritage protection and the development of the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center (BMC). She expressed readiness to further deepen exchanges and cooperation between the two cities in fields such as trade, education, and culture, to jointly elevate the sister-city relationship to a higher level.

Zeng Jin, Secretary General of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, attended the meeting.

(Written by Gao Zhi)