Her Excellency Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt,

Honorable Chairman Christensen,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Afternoon! It is my pleasure to attend the Danish-Chinese Business Forum’s Annual Meeting for the second time, and to have the opportunity to meet and exchange views with friends from the business community who have constantly strived to promote Sino-Danish economic and trade cooperation.

In 2014, Chinese Economy has entered into a stage of “New Normal”. We achieved a pre-set growth target of 7.4% and registered many breakthroughs in the year: China’s GDP was over 10 trillion USD for the first time; China attracted 128 billion USD of foreign direct investment, being number one FDI destination in the world for the first time; and Chinese outward investment stood at 102.9 billion USD, above the 100 billion USD threshold for the first time. In his report on the Work of the Government delivered at the Third Session of the 12th National People’s Congress in March this year, Premier Li Keqiang explicitly pointed out that Chinese government will continue to foster opening-up policy, further liberalize market access, especially in the service sector and strengthen IPR protection so that we could provide to the foreign investors stable and transparent policies, efficient and regulated administrative procedures and a level-playing markeplace. As China has opened its door even wider, I hope that Danish companies could take full advantage of the economic development in China, ride on the opportunities with us and achieve common development in the process.

China and Denmark have enjoyed a good relationship over the last year, with frequent exchanges of high-level visits and a historical progress in bilateral economic and trade cooperation. In April, Her Majesty the Queen paid a very successful 5-day state visit to China. In June, Mr. Liu Yunshang, a member of the standing committee of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee visited Denmark, while Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt attended the “Summer Davos” in Tianjin in September. In addition, 14 Danish cabinet members traveled to China throughout the year. All these high-level visits have played an irreplaceable role in strengthening and deepening our political and economic ties. At the 21st session of Sino-Danish Joint Committee on Economic and Trade cooperation held in Copenhagen last November, two sides set the direction and identified key sectors for future cooperation, including energy conservation and environment protection, bio-science and pharmaceuticals, shipping and logistics, elderly care and social welfare, food and agriculture, as well as financial cooperation. According to our statistics, the trade volume between our two countries last year stood at 10.6 billion USD, a 16.7% increase year-on-year, and bilateral investments are also on the rise, with Danish investment in China totaling about 3 billion USD, and Chinese to Denmark close to 100 million USD.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Denmark. As we cherish the long-standing friendship with Denmark, we would take full advantage of this occasion to further enhance our bilateral ties and economic cooperation. Currently, China is endeavoring to build the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road”. Having set promoting policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds as five major goals, the initiative covers more than 60 countries along the Eurasian landmass and received positive responds from relevant countries. To facilitate the implementation of the initiative, China has proposed the founding of an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank with 100 billion USD of authorized capital. We are pleased to see that the Danish government applied to join the Bank on March 28th, making it the first prospective founding member in the Nordic region. I believe that as the initiative has been gradually carried out, the improved connectivity between Asia and Europe will enhance the economic and trade exchanges between China and Nordic countries such as Denmark. Moreover, Chinese government has recently issued a “Made in China 2025” Strategy, which centers on innovation-driven, intellectually-transforming and green development and focuses on 10 key areas including next generation information technology, energy-friendly and new-energy powered vehicles, new materials, bio-pharmaceuticals and high performance medical instruments, and agriculture machinery. The strategy aims to upgrade China’s manufacturing sector by engaging in international cooperation. Therefore, we warmly welcome Danish companies to make full use of their strongholds and play an active role in broadening our collaberation in high technology and exploring third markets together through international industrial cooperation.

Over the last year, the Danish Chinese Business Forum has made great efforts and achieved positive progress in bringing the Chinese and Danish business communities together and facilitating business cooperation. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to Chairman Christensen, Secretary-General Jensen and all the member companies of DCBF for your hard work. The Chinese Embassy and I myself are ready to take the occasion of our 65th anniversary as a new start and work with you all to push forward our economic and trade cooperation.

In conclusion, I wish you good health and all the best!

Thank you!