HANOVER, Germany, March 16-- China and Germany have expressed the hope for strengthening innovation cooperation at the start of the world's largest high tech trade fair CeBIT with China as its partner country this year.

Delivering a video greetings to the opening ceremony of CeBIT on Sunday evening, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pointed out that the motto of CeBIT 2015 -- "d!conomy", an abbreviation for digital economy, fits well with the new demands for innovation cooperation between China and Germany.

China is willing to use the platform of CeBIT's partner country to initiate the Year of Germany-China Innovation Cooperation and to dovetail with the "Industry 4.0" project of Germany.

He also expressed China's willingness to deepen bilateral relations and cooperation and to jointly unlock potential for win-win cooperation and common prosperity.

Representing China at the opening ceremony, Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai said China has become the world's largest producer of Information and communications technology (ICT) products and the world's fastest growing consumer and application market.

Proceeding from its national conditions and with an eye on future development, the Chinese government has put forward a "Made in China 2025" strategy to accelerate the shift from a big manufacturing power to a strong manufacturing power, Ma said.

To achieve ICT innovation breakthroughs and advanced applications is the key part of this strategy, he added.

Ma said that China will make the deep integration of information and industrialization as the main priority, focusing efforts on achieving breakthroughs in core technologies in digital, networked, intelligent manufacturing to foster new modes of production and business models.

Stressing that China and Germany have strong complementarity in terms of technology, industries and market with a deep and solid foundation for cooperation, Ma expressed the hope both sides join hands in deepening practical cooperation in ICT, pushing forward innovations, upholding openness and compatibility and ensuring data security, which would not only bring more benefits to people of both countries but also make contributions to sustainable development of the world economy.

In her speech at the opening ceremony, German Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked Chinese Premier Li Keqiang for his kind greetings. She pointed out that China is the biggest trading partner of Germany in Asia and an important partner of Germany in high-tech research and development.

Germany and China each have their own strengths in digital economy and the two countries can complement each other through cooperation in this regard, Merkel said.

On Monday Ma Kai and German Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel jointly inaugurated the Chinese central pavilion at the CeBIT and then visited exhibition stands of firms of both countries.

A wide range of Chinese high-tech firms, such as big names like Alibaba, Huawei, Xiaomi and ZTE, are taking part in this year's CeBIT event, themed "Innovation, Convergence, Cooperation".