Chinese and Dutch companies inked a number of deals during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the Netherlands this week, including a deal to set up a plant in China to boost the country's new-energy ambitions.

Lithium Werks BV, a Dutch battery start-up, agreed to build a 1.6 billion euro ($1.85 billion) plant in China's Yangtze River Delta region. The plant will be the company's second plant in China, according to media reports.

Dutch entrepreneur Kees Koolen, founder of Lithium Werks BV, which makes rechargeable lithium iron phosphate batteries, reportedly said the factory will be able to produce batteries with 500 GWh storage capacity per year by 2030. 

The financing of the plant will be done with loans from Chinese or regional financing sources, development banks, and Lithium Werks and its investors.

The agreement was one of several commercial deals announced as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met on Tuesday in the Hague.

Li said China will take tougher measures to protect intellectual property in order to create a favorable environment for innovation and China is willing to scrap ownership caps in certain industries for Dutch companies.

Li made the remarks when addressing the China-Netherlands Business Forum in The Hague, which brought together over 400 business leaders and representatives from the two countries.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC and China National Offshore Oil Corporation also signed a deal to develop a third-phase project valued at billions of US dollars. The two operate a joint venture at the Nanhai petrochemicals complex in Huizhou in South China's Guangdong Province.

Xiamen Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines intensified their partnership with a memorandum of understanding on maintenance worth 2.8 billion yuan. 

Internationale Nederlanden Group and the Bank of Beijing signed an agreement on setting up a joint venture retail bank in China worth 3 billion yuan. The Dutch side holds 51 percent of ownership, according to a report on gov.cn.