President vows to advance ties, projects with Sweden, Finland

President Xi Jinping vowed to push forward China's cooperation with northern Europe while meeting leaders of two countries from the region on Monday.

Xi made the remark in meetings with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila.

The two prime ministers are in China to attend the Summer Davos Forum, scheduled in Dalian, Liaoning province, through Wednesday.

Both prime ministers expressed condolences over China's losses in the massive landslide that occurred in Maoxian county, Sichuan province, on Saturday and buried more than 100 people.

When meeting Lofven, Xi noted that Sweden was the first Western country to set up diplomatic ties with China.

He expected the two sides to view bilateral ties on a long-term basis and to be innovative when exploring cooperation in various fields.

China appreciates Sweden's adherence to the one-China policy and expects the two sides to respect each other's social systems and development paths as well as to look after the core interests and major concerns of the other side, Xi said.

China is willing to strengthen policy communication with northern European countries and push forward China's cooperation with the region, the president said.

Sweden is committed to deepening cooperation with China in various fields as well as on Arctic affairs, Lofven said.

When meeting Sipila, Xi said China expects to work with Finland to implement the consensus reached in April when he visited Finland.

The two sides should meet their development strategies and forge ahead with more demonstration projects in fields including electronic communication, intelligent manufacturing, bio economy, environmental protection technology, energy-saving building and clean energy, Xi said.

Sipila said Finland expects to strengthen cooperation with China under the Belt and Road Initiative and push forward China's cooperation with northern European countries.

Chen Fengying, a senior researcher on world economy at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the two leaders came to Davos partially because it is a platform featuring innovation and industrial revolution.

"Innovation is the feature of northern Europe, which helped shelter the region from the impact of the European debt crisis," Chen said. "They attach great importance to chances at the summer Davos, which will also help tap the huge potential of cooperation with China."

Zhou Jin contributed to this story.

lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn