Swedish praise Chinese boost for car giant Volvo

When China's Geely Holding Group acquired the Swedish Volvo Car Corp for $1.8 billion in 2010, many had doubts about the deal.

But Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven recently had glowing praise for the takeover.

Lofven told Li Shufu, chairman of the Chinese group, that "Geely has proved itself as a long-term committed partner".

He said its investment in Volvo was long-term and had benefited not only the economic development of Sweden, but the automobile industry as a whole.

He was speaking at the Sino-Swedish Business Roundtable in September at the Rosenbad (the Swedish prime minister's office) where he was meeting a group of leading Chinese entrepreneurs.

A delegation from the China Green Companies Alliance, consisting of nearly 30 leading entrepreneurs, paid a one-week visit to Sweden in mid-September, to learn from some of the world's leading enterprises, understand the Swedish innovation environment and look for business opportunities in Swedish industries.

Li met the CGC alliance delegation at Volvo and participated in some parts of their trip.

Sweden ranks as the world's second most-innovative economy, according to the Global Innovation Index 2016 compiled by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization. This is due to its continuous investment in innovation, developing new products and services. Its capital city Stockholm possesses the second largest number of "unicorn" companies per person, following Silicon Valley.

Ma Weihua, head of the delegation and the president of China Entrepreneur Club, said the alliance was a value-sharing platform for companies to develop and maintain sustainable business competitiveness. Sweden is a leading and competitive economy.

"We hope this visit will broaden minds for the Chinese leading entrepreneurs and harvest new opportunities," he said.

They visited the best-known Swedish companies, Volvo and Ikea, as well as other active players in the Swedish business community such as Karolinska Institute, STING, and Stockholm Royal Seaport. They met with their Swedish counterparts at several theme dinners and a business matchmaking event.

Two companies had already started following up with Karolinska Institute on a medical project before the trip actually finished. And an education delegate made the decision to purchase 3-D software from a Swedish company at the matchmaking session.

One of the delegates, Chairman of Dare Technology Group Glen Chen, said: "We have learned a lot from this trip, and I should say it has had a profound effect on me, particularly regarding cross-border investment and acquisition between China and Sweden. The case of the Geely acquisition of Volvo was especially inspiring, enhancing our confidence as private entrepreneurs."

Chen Yuming, Chinese ambassador to Sweden, said at a roundtable with the entrepreneurs that China and Sweden had made fresh progress in business and trade cooperation thanks to the efforts of governments and enterprises on both sides.

"Bilateral trade volume has increased by more than 110 times that of the early years of China's reform and opening-up, with more than 500 Swedish enterprises investing and starting up businesses in China, and Chinese investment in Sweden has reached $3.4 billion. The economic and industrial match between the two countries creates favorable conditions for mutually beneficial cooperation."

Ma said the Sino-Swedish bilateral trading relationship should also take advantage of the opportunity of Belt and Road Initiative. Industrial partnerships should be strengthened, particularly collaborations in emerging industries.

Sweden has advantages in emerging industries such as information, telecommunications, biology, medicine and green business, while for China is competitive in high-speed rail, infrastructure and telecommunications. Both countries should be able to explore new forms of partnership, boost volume and enhance quality, he said.

Initiated by the China Entrepreneur Club in 2013, CGC alliance organizes a delegation visit each year to promote internationalization and increase long-term exchanges in political, business and academic circles. So far, it has successfully visited Taiwan in 2014 and Israel in 2015.

chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/30/2016 page29)