On 10 April, Chinese Ambassador to Sweden Cui Aimin attended the Chamber Executive Club Network Meeting of the Mid-Sweden Chamber of Commerce and delivered a keynote speech. The full text is as follows:

Respected Mr. Oliver Dogo, CEO of Mid-Sweden Chamber of Commerce,
Dear friends from the business community,

Good afternoon!

Thank you Mr. Dogo for your invitation. It’s a great pleasure for me to come to Mid-Sweden Chamber of Commerce again and meet with friends from the business community. Today, I would like to share with you my views on China’s economy and China-Sweden economic and trade cooperation.

First of all, how is China’s economy exactly? It’s fair to say that China’s economy continues to register recovery growth and the momentum of picking up is consolidated and strengthened. Let’s first look at some data. In 2023, China’s GDP grew by 5.2% year-on-year. In the first two months of this year, China’s added value of industries above designated size increased by 7% year-on-year, manufacturing investment increased by 9.4%, and the total import and export volume of goods increased by 8.7%. The manufacturing PMI rose to 50.8% in March, returning to the expansion range for the first time since October 2023 and hitting a new high in the past year. In the past five years, the return rate of FDI in China has been around 9%, a relatively high level in the world. In the first two months of this year, 7160 foreign-invested enterprises were newly established in China, up 34.9% year-on-year. Of course, China’s economy in the process of transformation and upgrading does face some problems that cannot be ignored, such as the weak real estate industry, the recovery of consumption not as expected, and the slight decline of foreign investment, etc. In this regard, we have started to solve these problems and initial effects are taking shape. Transactions on the residential market in many places have gradually stepped out of the downward range and shown signs of stabilization and recovery. In the first two months of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 5.5% year-on-year. Actual use of foreign capital went down in quantity, but increased by 10.1% year-on-year in high-tech manufacturing industry. It should be noted that as China continues to promote high-quality economic development, foreign investment in China is also constantly transforming and upgrading. Generally speaking, China’s economy has formed good and stable fundamentals in its long-term development, and its overall trend of long-term growth will not change.

Secondly, why China’s economy will continue to develop? First, China has lifted itself out of poverty in an all-round way, 10 years ahead of the poverty reduction target set by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Chinese people have a higher pursuit of material and cultural life and the huge spillover effect has laid a solid foundation for the sustainable development of China’s economy. Second, China has entered the ranks of innovation countries, ranking the twelfth on the Global Innovation Index. China’s development is a high-quality development driven by innovation, which constantly injects an inexhaustible impetus into the Chinese modernization. Third, China is committed to opening up, sharing opportunities with the world, developing together with other countries and highly integrated into the world economy. China’s development is not only attributable to our own efforts, but also inseparable from close cooperation with other countries. Over the years, multinational enterprises have been deeply engaged in the Chinese market. By taking full advantage of China’s manufacturing capacity, they have expanded their global production capacity, accelerated their own growth and obtained huge rewards. There is no doubt that self-seclusion and conservatism will only lead to stagnation and backwardness. Trade protectionism may temporarily protect domestic industries, but in the long run its self-handicapping and hinders broader exchanges and cooperation. Therefore, as long as we adhere to openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, China’s economy will surely achieve continuous and stable development.

Thirdly, where are the opportunities of cooperating with China? China enjoys strengths such as a full-fledged industrial system, a supersize market in terms of demand and abundant high-caliber labor forces. As a result, China’s sustainable development is self-generative, resilient and rich in potentials, providing development opportunities for foreign-funded enterprises. China and Sweden share similar development concepts, complement each others’ industrial advantages, and both attach great importance to technological innovation and sustainable development. There is broad space for cooperation in the fields of technological application, green and low carbon development. Ascatron AB in the semiconductor field is a good example. In 2016, Ascatron AB and Shenzhen Bronze Sword Technology Co.,Ltd established a joint venture named Shenzhen Basic Semiconductor Co., Ltd, which rapidly became a leading enterprise in the industry. We believe that walking with China means walking with opportunities, and investing in China means investing for the future.

Next, I would like to talk about how to view China-Sweden economic and trade relations. For a long time, China and Sweden’s friendly exchanges and practical cooperation have brought real benefits to both our two countries and the peoples and have laid a solid foundation for enterprises’ future cooperation. In recent years, more and more Chinese enterprises have come to Sweden for cooperation. In the fields of new energy, electric vehicles and some other sectors, the cooperation has increased its share. For example, Senior Material and several other Chinese companies are providers of lithium battery for Northvolt. Shanghai PTL is about to land in Sweden and start cooperation with Northvolt too. At present, economic and trade relations between the two countries are generally stable. China remains Sweden’s largest trading partner in Asia and Sweden is still China’s largest trading partner in the Nordic region. Of course, we shouldn’t stop here since there is a lot we can do together. We should keep expanding areas of cooperation and seek more business opportunities in continuous exchanges and cooperation.

Furthermore, I’d like to talk about how to strengthen China-Sweden economic and trade cooperation. Since I took office two years ago, I’ve visited many Swedish enterprises. I can sense that most of them are willing to do business with the Chinese people and they have exceptional business capacity and technical conditions to carry out future cooperation with China. In this regard, I would like to make a few suggestions on strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

First, further expand areas of cooperation. As the economy develops, demand structure in China is changing towards a multi-level and diversified direction. On the basis of maintaining traditional trade and cooperation, China and Sweden should give full play to the strengths of cooperation in green, low-carbon, environmental protection and at the same time tap the potential of new materials, innovative medicines, bio-manufacturing, artificial intelligence, big data and other fields related to new quality productive forces, so as to enhance the scope of collaboration and make the pie of shared interest even bigger.

Second, further strengthen cooperation on innovation. Innovation is the internal momentum for enterprise development. Sweden is leading in innovation capabilities in the world with advanced science and technology as well as highly modernized industry. In the current stage of China’s ongoing industrial upgrading and transfer, Swedish enterprises can provide exactly what China needs and both sides can reach a win-win outcome. We hope that Swedish high-tech enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises could better participate in China’s innovation-driven development strategy, display their strength in China, and harvest their own success in China’s new stage of development.

Third, combine closer with two markets’ reality. With a developing economy, people’s demands are more diversified, and their consumption concepts and living habits are changing. I hope that enterprises from both sides could pay attention to the shifts of the market, explore how to localize technology, R&D, talents, products and continuously produce marketable and differentiated products. At the same time, both countries’ enterprises could further innovate the mode of cooperation, work together to explore third markets and achieve mutually-beneficial and win-win cooperation.

Fourth, make full use of all kinds of communication platforms. We welcome all entrepreneurs and friends to visit China seeking cooperation opportunities, especially use various platforms set up by China, such as the China International Import Expo which is the world's first import expo, China International Big Data Industry Expo which is the world's first big data expo, etc. The Chinese Embassy in Sweden will always provide support to China-Sweden economic and trade cooperation. If you encounter any difficulties or problems during your exchanges and cooperation with your Chinese counterparts, we will do our best to assist. At the same time, we will also encourage Chinese companies to carry out exchanges and cooperation in Sweden. What we wish to see is the ever-increasing friendship between the two peoples and continuously strengthened practical cooperation between the two countries. Enhanced economic exchanges and cooperation will undoubtedly be the most beneficial to both sides.

Finally, I sincerely invite all of you to visit China and feel the Chinese speed, the Chinese warmth, to deepen friendship, explore opportunities, pursue common development, and jointly write a remarkable chapter of China-Sweden cooperation.

Thank you!