Berlin - Economic issues are expected to dominate Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Thursday, government sources said.

The two countries plan to sound ways to cooperate in fighting the global financial crisis, the sources said Wednesday.

Germany is the second stage of a European tour that takes the Chinese leader to Switzerland and the World Economic Forum in Davos, as well as European Union headquarters in Brussels, Spain and Britain.

China and Germany are due to sign a declaration outlining their joint efforts in the field of trade and technology. The document is expected to stress the importance of China as a partner of Germany, the sources said.

Agreements on climate change and economic cooperation are also due to be signed during the visit, which kicks off with a breakfast between Merkel and Wen on Thursday morning.

The two leaders are due to hold a joint press conference around lunchtime before taking part in a session of the German-Chinese Forum for Economic and Technological Cooperation.

The premier also due to meet German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Economics Minister Michael Glos.

Relations between Germany and China have improved since a spat in 2007 when Merkel met the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, at her office in Berlin.

The chancellor held talks with the Chinese premier when she visited China in October last year to take part in the biannual Asia- Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Beijing.

From Berlin, Wen travels to Brussels for talks with the EU Commission that were cancelled by Beijing in November, following a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who then held the rotating EU presidency, and the Dalai Lama.

France was pointedly not included in the Chinese premier's European tour. (dpa)