Sino-Danish co-op enjoys broad prospects: Danish official

Danish cooperation with China on sustainable development enjoys broad prospects, Danish Parliament Speaker Mogens Lykketoft said in Copenhagen in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

Lykketoft made the remarks prior to the upcoming visit by Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), due on Wednesday to Friday.

He said that there are strong mutual interests between Denmark and China, and the essence about the sustainable development is that both countries have to "improve their way of using and managing the resources and energy and taking care of the climate."

"We cannot copy the models of the past. We must together develop the models of the future that can make economic growth possible and sustainable," he said during the interview Friday in his office at Christiansborg, the building of the Danish parliament.

He said Denmark's advanced and high skilled competences and industrial base in green sustainable technologies and products could be useful for China.

"Many of the things Denmark used to produce went away, much of it to China, but that we still have also an industrial base -- very advanced and very high skilled -- green sustainable technologies and products which could be useful also for China."

"We also know that most of these China will be able to make for herself in the future, but there are always new areas where we can contribute to the development of China, and of course there will be a lot that we will want to buy from China," he said.

He noted that the level of added value, scientific content and so forth in the products the two countries exchange will increase from year to year, because China is moving up in the chain of wealth creation very fast and very efficiently.

Bilateral relations between China and Denmark have undergone positive developments backed by a number of high level visits from both sides since the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership in 2008.

"We think it is very promising for Chinese-Danish relations, also commercial relations. Last year we had the honor of the visit of the president of the People's Republic of China," he said.

Lykketoft regarded Yu's visit as another important step in developing ties in trade, investment, science and technology, saying it will deepen the partnership between the two nations.

In fact, Denmark is the only state in the Nordic region and also one of few in Europe, which has a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. And this year marks the fifth anniversary of such a partnership between China and Denmark.

Lykketoft also considered Yu's visit to Denmark as recognition from the Chinese side that Denmark has very good, cordial and friendly and extensive relations with China and the strong Sino-Danish ties can be also deepened in the commercial and industrial fields.

Yu, together with a large delegation, will also hold talks with representatives of Danish industries to explore the possibility of wider cooperation between the two countries' enterprises on sustainable development and ecological civilization construction.

"We know that he (Yu) is very much engaged in the development of energy, saving energy, sustainable energy production," Lykketoft added.

He said that he will take the opportunity to exchange views with Yu on the Danish social and economic model, as well as the international issues of common interest.

"I know that many Chinese .. very high representatives from China that I have met over the years, have been very interested in the Danish model (of development). So I think we will have an exchange on those things also," he said, adding that the elements of the Danish model could also be of interest from China.

Yu will visit Denmark from June 5 to 7. Denmark is the last stop of Yu's current trip, which has also taken him to Finland and Sweden.