On the morning of June 23, Guangzhou Mayor Sun Zhiyang met with Swedish Ambassador to China Per Augustsson and his delegation at the municipal government offices in Guangzhou.
Sun welcomed Augustsson and his delegation. He said that, under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, Guangzhou and Sweden have maintained close and friendly exchanges. Bilateral economic and trade ties between the two sides have continued to strengthen, while cooperation in healthcare, cultural tourism, and international sister-city exchanges has expanded steadily, producing fruitful results.
Sun noted that this year marks the first year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan period. Guangzhou is working toward the goal of taking the lead in basically realizing socialist modernization. With the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as a key driver, the city is further deepening high-standard reform and opening-up, and accelerating its efforts to build a world city of high centrality, classic charm, and modern vitality. He expressed hope that both sides would further deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in areas such as new energy vehicles, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and cultural tourism, actively build business matchmaking platforms, expand economic, trade, and investment cooperation, strengthen people-to-people visits and youth exchanges, and continue to enhance mutual understanding and friendship, so as to deliver more cooperation outcomes for the benefit of the people of both places.
Augustsson said the story of the Swedish ship, the East Indiaman Götheborg, sailing across the seas to Guangzhou is widely known in Sweden. In 2006, the full-scale replica of the ship made its revived voyage to Guangzhou, becoming a shared memory of the friendly exchanges between the two countries. Sweden has always regarded Guangzhou as an important city for cooperation with China. The two sides share many areas of convergence and great potential for cooperation in biomedicine, new energy vehicles, scientific and technological innovation, and green and low-carbon industries. He said he looked forward to creating more cooperation opportunities for Swedish enterprises in Guangzhou and bringing bilateral ties to new heights.
Text | Zheng Yiling (intern)
(Cover image | Nanfang Daily)