Photo taken on March 26, 2017 shows a night view of Luxembourg city, Luxembourg.  (Photo: Xinhua) 

Full Name: The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg

Area: 2,586.3 square kilometers

Population: 602,000 (as of January 2018). Luxemburgues account for 52.1 percent, with the rest are foreign residents, mainly from Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, England and the Netherlands.

Languages: French, German and Luxembourgish are official languages, with French used more in administration, judiciary and diplomacy sectors, German used more in the press.

Religion: About 97 percent of the residents are Catholics

Capital: Luxembourg City, covering an area of 51.2 square kilometers with a population of 116,000 (by the end of 2017).

Head of State: Le Grand-Duc Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, reigning since October 7, 2000.

National Day: June 23

Geography: A landlocked country in northwestern Europe, it borders Germany to the east, France to the south, Belgium to the west and north.

Climate: It has an oceanic climate, with an average temperature of 9 degrees. The precipitation is high, and the mean annual precipitation is 782.2 millimeters.

Politics: The country is headed by a constitutional monarch. Its political situation has remained stable. The government has promoted economic and social reform, paid attention to ensuring people's livelihood, and achieved sustained economic growth.

The constitution was promulgated on October 17, 1868, and has been amended many times since then. The constitution stipulates that the grand duke is the head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces, with legislative and executive powers and the power to dissolve parliament. In fact, parliament exercises legislative power and the government exercises executive power and is responsible to parliament.

Economy: A developed capitalist country, the nation is small but rich. Its per capita GDP has been among the highest in the world for many years in a row. The natural resources are scarce, the market is small, and the economy is much dependent on the outside world. Steel, finance and satellite communications are the three pillars of the economy.

GDP: $62.4 billion (2017)

Per capita GDP: $104,000 (2017)

Growth: 2.3 percent (2017)

Currency: Euro

Inflation rate: 2.3 percent (November 2018)

Unemployment rate: 5.5 percent (2018)

Relations with China:

Luxembourg established diplomatic relations with China on November 16, 1972. In June 1978, the nation established its embassy in China. Followed the European Union it imposed sanctions on China and the relations gradually improved from 1991 onwards.

Le Grand-Duc Henri visited China in September 2006, August 2008 and October 2010.

In June 2017, Luxembourg then Prime Minister Xavier Bettel paid an official visit to China, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang respectively.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Luxembourg then Prime Minister Xavier Bettel in Beijing on Wednesday, June 14, 2017. (Photo: Xinhua)

Bettel said the two countries' economies are highly complementary, and Luxembourg stands ready to expand bilateral cooperation on finance, investment, science and technology, tourism and people-to-people exchanges, as well as deepen cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative on the basis of mutual respect and trust.

Luxembourg stands for deepened and constructive dialogues between the EU and China, and is willing to play an active role in this aspect, Bettel added.

In March 2019, Bettel attended the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2019 held in Boao of Hainan Province. During the conference, he met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. The two witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, and financial cooperation documents between the two countries.

(Sources: Xinhua, fmprc.gov.cn)