East China's Anhui signs agreement with Lower Saxony, Germany

HEFEI, July 17 (Xinhua) -- East China's Anhui Province and German state Lower Saxony signed a letter of intent on cooperation and documents related to ten projects on Friday via video to deepen cooperation in automobile, freight logistics, and renewable energy fields.

The two parties plan to establish a vocational school with German carmaker Volkswagen based on the dual system in the German education system.

A waterway transport route connecting Hefei, the provincial capital, and Wilhelmshaven, a port city in Lower Saxony, will also be launched and help develop Wilhelmshaven into a German distribution center of products made in Anhui.

Moreover, Anhui University and Leibniz University Hannover teamed up to set up a joint research center for materials science, the foreign affairs office of Anhui said.

Since Anhui and Lower Saxony signed the joint declaration for cooperation in 1984 and established one of the longest China-German regional partnerships, a series of industrial collaborations are in full swing based on high industrial relevance and strong compatibility.

In December 2020, the Volkswagen Group, headquartered in Lower Saxony, saw its joint venture Volkswagen (Anhui) Automotive Company Limited, and a new research and development center inaugurated in Hefei. The construction of the group's modular electric drive matrix (MEB) plant is also underway, and the plant will likely go into operation in the second half of 2023.

The two parties will deepen their win-win cooperation in hydrogen energy and other renewable energy, as well as health care and scientific research, said Lower Saxony's minister president Stephan Weil via video link.