BERLIN — The China-Germany Innovation Dialogue Forum on Vocational Education kicked off in Berlin on June 26.

Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan and German’s Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek attended the opening ceremony and delivered keynote speeches.

Sun noted that since President Xi Jinping’s visit to Germany in 2014, the all-around strategic partnership between the two countries has been witnessing in-depth development. The leaders of the two countries reached an important consensus on deepening cooperation in the field of vocational education, which is considered a key area in educational exchanges.

Sun said the Chinese government highly values vocational education and has issued new instructions on it.

She also said that she hoped the two countries can make the best of this forum by further improving the system of vocational education, enhancing the professional level of teachers, pushing forward the fusion of education and industries, strengthening standard-building, and boosting cooperation in the field of vocational education to a new level.

For her part, Karliczek noted that vocational education plays a vital role in training high-quality talents and securing a country’s prosperity and economic growth.

She said it was of great importance for China and Germany to strengthen cooperation in vocational education, adding that it was beneficial to jointly work towards improvements of vocational education and to enhance mutual understanding and trust, thus push forward Sino-German ties.

Over 150 representatives of the Chinese and German governments, vocational training institutions, colleges, schools, research institutes and enterprises attended the forum. The discussions centered on designing vocational education systems and policies as well as on practical experiences.

On the sidelines of the forum, the vice-premier met with Vice-President of the German Bundestag (Parliament) Hans-Peter Friedrich. Sun also visited the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, the Siemens Technical Academy, the domino-world Club Tegel and other institutions actively involved in vocational education.