Remarks by Ambassador Gui Congyou at the
China (Zhejiang) - Sweden Economic Exchange Seminar
31 August 2017
Respected Secretary Che Jun,
Respected Minister Mikael Damberg,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning. This is the very first economic event between China and Sweden that I have attended since I took office as the Chinese Ambassador to Sweden. I am delighted to have this opportunity to meet the Chinese and Swedish entrepreneurs present today. I look forward to working together with you in the future to achieve constant progress in economic and trade cooperation between our two countries.
Economic relations between China and Sweden have a long history. Sweden is the first western country to establish diplomatic relations with China. In the past 67 years since then, thanks to the joint efforts of the governments and business community of our two countries, bilateral economic and trade cooperation has continued to achieve new progress. In the first half of this year, the two-way trade has seen a recovery growth after two years of decline. The total volume reached 7.04 billion US dollars, up 17.4% from the last year. In particular, China’s import from Sweden was nearly 3.7 billion, an year-on-year increase of 23%, faster than China’s export to Sweden. By the end of June this year, Swedish companies have invested in more than 1400 projects in China, with a total volume of 4.76 billion US dollars. Chinese investments in Sweden started late but have been growing fast. By the end of June, the total volume exceeded 3.6 billion US dollars. Geely’s acquisition of Volvo has been widely recognized as a successful example of investment by Chinese private companies in Europe.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Chinese economy has maintained a momentum of steady and sound growth. The first half of this year saw 6.9% growth with marked improvement in economic performance. Industrial production has gathered pace. Import and export have increased by 20% and employment continued to expand. Citing the growing strength of new drivers and steady progress in economic rebalancing in China, a number of international organizations and research institutions have recently raised their forecast of China’s economic growth, reflecting optimistic market expectations. We are also glad to see that the Swedish economy has stood out among EU countries in recent years, with continued stable and strong growth.
I want to stress that China and Sweden share a strong economic complementarity. China has a big market and Sweden boasts advanced technology and managerial experience, generating huge potential for growth. To further develop a healthy and sustainable economic relations serves the common interest of our two countries. Secretary Che Jun’s visit is an important follow-up on Prime Minister Stefan Löfven’s recent visit to Zhejiang Province, and a major step to implement the important consensus on cooperation reached by President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Löfven as well as other leaders of our two countries. As an economic powerhouse in China, Zhejiang is one of the top-ranking provinces in terms of aggregate and per capita GDP and growth rate. It always stands at the forefront China’s opening-up, and pursues open, innovative and green development, which is very similar to the development concept and model of Sweden. Entrepreneurs from Zhejiang are also known for their international vision, strategic thinking and innovative spirit. It is hoped that companies from the two sides will continue to follow the principles of open and win-win cooperation, mutual respect and mutual understanding, and further broaden and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, so as to make greater contribution to lifting the overall economic and trade cooperation between China and Sweden to a new height.
Thank you.