Our partner Sweden-China Trade Council held an annual meeting for it’s members last week, and of course we were there! Not only did the SCTC celebrate 30 years, but they also celebrated the 60 year long realtion between Sweden and China.
Now, the event was held for a couple of hours, and there was a tasty lunch with some effective networking. But what I found most interesting was the answering of questions by our trade minister Ewa Björling and the speach held by Chinese ambassador in Sweden, Chen Mingming.
Bo Landin, SCTC chairman, and Ewa Björling, Trade Minister Chen Mingming, Chinese Ambassador
Ewa Björling was questioned of a couple of interesting issues. Last question was “Is it a problem or an opportunity to have Swedish investors in Sweden?” She answered that she considered it to be an opportunity, because if Swedish companys could grow in China it would create jobs in both Sweden and China. Well, I’m not a proffesional, but I would really liked a deeper explination of what she meant. Anyhow, in the end she said something really worth thinking about. Although, Swedish export have decreased with 17 % during the finanical crises, it has INCREASED with 21% to China. Now that is something to consider!
Chinese ambassador Chen Mingming told us many things in his speach, but most interesting was his view on how China would develop to a wealthy country for all Chinese people. He pointed out that for us, industrialisation took many years and society developed slowly along. For China a rapid industrialisation and urbanisation is the way to lift as many people as possible from poverty at a short period of time, he said. This also affects the environment, as China today uses “dirty” fuel for energy, as coal e.g. Chen Mingming noted that because of the amounts of polution that is affecting the county and the world, China is in great need of sustainable energy. Which is why Sweden is interesting, with it’s clean tec reaserch and resources.
Finally, Chen Mingming also told us that last year China’s economy grew 8,2 %, 0,2 % under the goal of 8,4%, but dreamy for most western countires.
Thank you SCTC for inviting us to this very interesting event!
Elina and all of Project China 2010
