President of Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Christoph Leitl awards Wan Jifei, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, with a gold medal to honor business achievements between Austria and China. [Photo / Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China and Austria are to further promote economic cooperation, leaders of the two countries' trade promotion agencies said at the opening ceremony of the Sino-Austria Connect B2B Seminar in Beijing on Thursday.

China is Austria's second largest trade partner after the Europe, and is its largest sales market in Asia, said Christoph Leitl, president of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

Sino-Austria trade volume reached a history high of over 8 billion euros ($11.48 billion) in 2010, and Austria's exports to China rose about 40 percent that year, said Leitl.

In the first half of 2011, Austria's exports to China increased 9.2 percent to 1.5 billion euros, and its imports from the world's second largest economy grew 22.7 percent to 2.9 billion euros, according to Leitl.

Meanwhile, China is searching for international cooperation in areas of energy-saving and emission cuts, environmental protection, and renewable energy, where Austria has the cutting-edge technologies, said Wan Jifei, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Wan said he is leading a delegation of Chinese entrepreneurs to Austria when Chinese President Hu Jintao visits the European country at the end of October.

Austria's current investments in China are mostly in the energy, environment, infrastructure construction, medical technologies, and machinery manufacture sectors, said Leitl. He invited Chinese companies to invest in these areas in Austria.

He also mentioned Austria's strength in the tourism industry, especially the vocational training in the sector.

Regarding the ongoing European debt crisis, Leitl said he is confident in the euro despite the crisis.

He said that monetary policies are important measures to counter this crisis and urged countries to establish rules to control excessive speculation.

Leitl supports China's role in the G20 and backs China to renew rules of the world's trade and financial activities.

Leitl also awarded Wan with a gold medal to honor the bilateral business achievements between Austria and China.