German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai and Alibaba founder Jack Ma open the world’s largest fair in Hanover, Germany.

On Monday, the world’s largest and most international computer exposition, CeBIT, opened its doors to the thousands of visitors that flock to Hanover, Germany once a year for the annual Event.

CeBIT provides an overview of the state of the art in the digital industry’s four core markets: IT, Telecommunications, Digital Media and Consumer Electronics. Renowned industry figures and researchers from across the globe are invited to speak on the latest relevant trends and innovations as well as their impact on society and the working world.

In the opening ceremony Merkel identified China, this year’s CeBIT partner country, as the “most important” trade partner outside of the EU. Despite being in favor of an even closer collaboration between Germany and China, the German chancellor also urged China to “play by the rules”. Merkel argued that fairness, predictability, dependability, and the equal treatment of corporations in both countries were imperative and laid the foundations for successful cooperation.

In his speech, Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai characterized Germany as “a pioneer on the way to a digital economy”. He argued that China and Germany were “complementing” each other greatly and welcomed Merkel’s call for an agreement that would facilitate investment in the host country and protect investors from governmental capriciousness. Furthermore, he promised to remove existing obstacles to trade on global markets and pledged to help establishing an international legal framework for IT security and the protection of intellectual property.

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