Nantong, a city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in China, is renowned for its unique geographical location—it is connected to the Yangtze River, the sea, and Shanghai. As a dynamic and modern city, Nantong has a land area of 9,380 square kilometers and a permanent resident population of 7.75 million. In recent years, Nantong's economy has developed rapidly, with its GDP exceeding 1.18 trillion yuan in 2023, ranking it among the top cities in China in terms of economic aggregate.

Nantong Economic and Technological Development Zone, as the window of Nantong's opening-up to the outside world, has attracted numerous well-known domestic and foreign enterprises to settle in since its establishment in 1984 with the approval of the State Council. The development zone has a planned area of 184 square kilometers and a permanent resident population of approximately 330,000. To date, it has established more than 2,000 large-scale enterprises, including more than 800 foreign-invested enterprises, with a total investment exceeding 30 billion USD. With these remarkable achievements, Nantong Economic and Technological Development Zone ranked 21st in the comprehensive development evaluation of national economic and technological development zones nationwide in 2023.

In terms of cooperation with Germany, Nantong has a long history of exchanges and cooperation with Germany, yielding fruitful results. As of the end of 2023, 102 German investment projects had been established in Nantong, mainly concentrated in high-end manufacturing industries such as biomedicine, food production, automotive components, and chemical raw materials, injecting a strong impetus for Nantong's economic and social development. German companies such as Merck, Lanxess, and Covestro have established production bases or research and development centers in Nantong, which not only enhances Nantong's position in the global industrial chain but also provides a broad stage for German companies to expand into the Chinese market.

Meanwhile, the import and export trade volume between Nantong and Germany has continued to grow. In 2023, the bilateral trade volume reached 14.102 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 10.5%. This not only demonstrates Nantong's unique advantages as a city at the intersection of the "Belt and Road," but also highlights the huge potential for economic cooperation between China and Germany.