SHANGHAI'S German community is expecting an exciting event next year. With a 6,000-square-meter World Expo pavilion along the Huangpu River, local Germans will be able to share their distinguished culture with visitors from around the world.

With a community now numbering about 10,000, Germans are one of the largest expat contingents in and around Shanghai. Shanghai Daily caught up with the Consul General, Dr Albrecht Von Der Heyden, for his reflections on the past year and plans for the future.

Q: What have been the highlights for you in the past year?

A: It's difficult to choose just a few highlights as there have been so many prominent events including high-ranking visits from Germany to China over the last year and more. It reflects the special German interest in China.

The Germany and China Moving Ahead Together initiative brought Chancellor Angela Merkel to Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, to start the three-year series of events in August 2007.

This event, which showcases Germany as a land of ideas and advanced technology, then went on to Chongqing, Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), Shenyang (Liaoning Province) and Wuhan (Hubei Province). These events brought our foreign minister, the minister of environment and the former chancellor to China.

It will culminate in Shanghai in May 2010 in time for the start of the World Expo, and German Expo national day on May 19. There will be an exhibition showcasing the results of the series for two months, and we can also look forward to a representative of our country of the highest order.

Q: Tell me more about your preparations for the Expo next year?

A: Expo preparations will be very important for us next year, and our participation will be very broadly based. In addition to a futuristic pavilion which showcases innovative approaches to urban development, four German cities will take part in the Urban Best Practices Area. This includes Hamburg with its zero-energy house, Bremen with its intelligent traffic systems and also D?sseldorf and Freiberg.

Also the number of high-ranking visitors will be without precedence, including the majority of the governments of the 16 federal states.

No one will want to miss the opportunity to contribute to the theme of "Better City, Better Life" because it affects such a wide range of issues. We will be happy to even more stimulate the further extension and intensification of bilateral cooperation.

We will have our hands full!

Q: What is the "special German interest in China?"

A: Firstly trade is a very important and a well-known aspect of our relationship. German trade with China experienced double-digit growth over the past few years, and the Yangtze River Delta region including Shanghai is especially important. Trade volumes in the Yangtze River Delta region of China alone surpassed our trade volumes with the whole of Japan last year.

But our interests with each other are wider than just trade. It lies in historical ties in education and philosophy. I just came back from the 25th anniversary of the partnership between Nanjing University (where late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai was educated) and Gottingen University. In Shanghai our major partner is Tongji University which was founded by a German doctor Erich Paulun in 1907.

There are currently 27,000 Chinese students studying in Germany, and we are the third most attractive destination for overseas study after the English speaking countries. Meanwhile, about 3,000 Germans are currently studying in China. We want to be attractive for research and technological exchange.

A wide base of economic, cultural and academic links reflects lots of confidence between the two countries. This leads to being able to tackle issues of concern to both sides, such as human rights and the rule of law. For example we just celebrated 20 years of the German-Chinese Law Institute - which shows that these links are not just talk but can become an institution.

Q: What trade opportunities will be important in the future?

A: There are currently 3,000 German companies in Shanghai and surrounding areas and it's growing and diversifying.

In past decades we saw a lot of labor intensive outsourcing from the automobile, machine building, chemical and textile industries in China. They were characterized by small and medium suppliers who sought to provide value to their customers by relocating to China.

But policies in Shanghai and surrounding areas are increasingly shifting to high-tech, high value-added industries. With the restructuring of wage-intensive industries in the Yangtze River Delta area, and also the change in currency rates, early labor intensive industries such as textiles have already left Shanghai.

High-tech industries such as auto and machine building are more and more aware of the growing Chinese market, which has become a reality now. We are also getting involved in helping Chinese companies with sea transport and traffic infrastructure, such as the cooperation between German and Chinese companies to build Metro systems to a high standard in many cities. It's a classic win-win situation.

Q: How has the German community in Shanghai developed in the past year?

A: There are more than 7,000 permanent, registered German residents in China. In the Yangtze River Delta region, there are more than 10,000 registered residents.

The best indicator that the number of residents has increased is the growing number of children at the German school which now has 1,000 students. Members at the German Chamber of Commerce have also grown to 1,100.

Despite the financial crisis, Germans continue to live here because we tend to think long term. In addition, they seem to have - as we do have - full confidence in the further development in China. The actual recent figures of trade and investment obviously have confirmed this positive attitude.

If we make a decision to stay we consider it very carefully and will not easily change. Even during the Russian crisis most Germans stayed. Most companies looked to reduce costs and investments but the basics of investing here was never in question.