Mr. Joerg Wuttke, President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce. [Photo courtesy of Joerg Wuttke] 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is making her second visit to China. Among the topics on her agenda during her four-day stay will be further developing trade ties between the two countries. Bilateral trade between Germany and China reached 63.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, making Germany China's largest trading partner in the European Union. Germany is also the main European source of China's technology imports.

Hello and welcome to People In the Know, China's only English language current affairs radio programme, online at www.crienglish.com  here on China Radio International. I'm Paris Lord.

In this edition, we'll discuss relations between Germany and China from both economic and political perspectives.

Let's begin.

(Music)

First, for an overview on Germany's business ties with China, we're joined by Joerg Wuttke, President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce. He's General Manager of BASF China and is a founder and former president of the German Chamber of Commerce in China.

(Dialogue with Wuttke)

We'll take a short break and learn more about German-Chinese ties from a political perspective.

(Promo)

Hello, you're listening to People In the Know, your window into the world around you, online at  www.crienglish.com here on China Radio International. I'm Paris Lord in Beijing.

Today we're discussing relations between China and Germany as Chancellor Angela Merkel continues her second visit here.

To tell us more about the political relationship between the two countries, we're joined on the line from Shanghai by Professor Dai Bingran from the Centre for European Studies at Fudan University.

(Dialogue with Dai)

That's all we have time for in this edition of  People In the Know, your window into the world around you, online at  www.crienglish.com here on China Radio International.While the media spotlight this week is on the state visit, we must also remember the hard work done each day in both countries.

Questions or comments are welcome at crieng@crifm.com. For Executive Director Wang Lei and Producer Wu Yixiu, I'm Paris Lord in Beijing. Tomorrow Paul James will be back in the chair as host. We'll leave you with an excerpt from "Angie" by the Rolling Stones, a song played during Angela Merkel's campaign rallies in the 2005 German federal election. Goodbye.