Workers install a wind turbine in Yiyang county, Central China's Henan Province. Photo: IC

 

Friis Arne Petersen Photo: Courtesy of the Danish Embassy in China

China's annual economic growth target for 2015 is reasonable and shows the Chinese leadership's determination to achieve a sustainable economic model, Danish Ambassador to China Friis Arne Petersen said Monday.

Despite China's current slowdown, the prospects for economic cooperation between Denmark and China are improving, especially in the green energy, health and food sectors, the ambassador also said.

China has set an annual economic growth target of approximately 7 percent this year, which means a growth rate within the range of 6.4 percent to 7.1 percent would be acceptable, Petersen told a press conference in Beijing.

The goal is realistic and will allow for more sustainable growth, Petersen said at the press conference, at which he shared his thoughts on the annual government work report that Premier Li Keqiang delivered to the annual session of the National People's Congress on Thursday.

"Measures like increasing loans for small and micro-sized businesses and for the agricultural sector, as well as developing cultural and creative industries, also bode well for the Chinese economy," the ambassador noted.

The growth target of around 7 percent for 2015 that Premier Li unveiled is lower than the actual GDP growth of 7.4 percent achieved in 2014, which was the lowest in 24 years.

"The lower growth target signals that policymakers remain focused on rebalancing the world's second-largest economy and relying more on the private sector," Moody's said in a research note e-mailed to the Global Times on Monday.

Petersen also said on Monday that the government work report gives Denmark high hopes for expanding trade with China in the future.

"Many countries in Europe may think there will be more difficulties in doing trade with China, given its ­slower growth," Petersen said. "We think differently. The best years are ahead of us." 

China is Denmark's second-largest trade partner after the EU. Denmark's total trade with China amounted to more than 110 billion yuan ($17.56 billion) in 2014, of which 60 billion yuan was taken up by exports to China. 

Li pledged in the government work report to revise the Catalogue for the Guidance of Industries for Foreign Investment and to cut restrictions on foreign investment and improve access to its services and manufacturing sectors.

This sends a very positive message for Danish businesses, as it will allow them to increase their investment in China, Petersen said. 

Danish businesses are strong in the areas of green technology, health and food security, he noted.

"Denmark is a very special economy in the EU, and has managed to achieve quite high economic growth while staying free from the ills of other EU economies, such as high debts," Zhao Yongsheng, a visiting scholar with the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

"Despite the differences in size, the economies of the two nations are quite complementary. Denmark is well known for its leading green technologies such as wind power, and the prospects for cooperation in the field are strong as China has pledged to combat pollution," Zhao said.

The annual government work report listed reduction of energy intensity as one of the country's major development goals.

Energy intensity, or units of energy per unit of GDP, will be cut by 3.1 percent this year, the report said.