On Monday April 23, 2012, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Lars Backstrom, governor of Sweden’s Vastra Gotaland province in Gothenburg.
During the meeting, Mr. Jiabao said that the China-Sweden friendship dates back to nearly 300 years ago when the Swedish merchant ship “Gothenburg” arrived in China.
Sweden is one of the first Western countries recognizing the People’s Republic of China. Bilateral economic and trade cooperation has yielded rich fruit ever since, Mr. Jiabao said.
Cooperation between automakers of China’s Geely and Sweden’s Volvo serves as a fine example of jointly coping with the global financial crisis and achieving a win-win outcome, which creates new job opportunities for Sweden, he added.
The two nations have great potential for cooperation in economy and trade, said Mr. Jiabao, adding Sweden has advanced technology and management, while China enjoys a huge market. He voiced his belief that the China-Sweden friendship will be further deepened and consolidated with expanded cooperation.
Lars Backstrom, for his part, extended warm welcome for Mr. Wen’s visit to Vastra Gotaland Province. The friendship between the two nations enjoys a long history and a solid foundation. Hailing the sound cooperation between both sides,the Chinese premier’s visit will surely further promote the friendly cooperative relations between the two countries, said Mr. Backstrom.
Before the meeting, Wen Jiabao visited the archaistic “Gothenburg” ship.
