China, Nordic nations eye cooperation in green transformation, maritime transport

China and the five Nordic states have achieved rapid development in economic and trade cooperation, with fruitful achievements in the green transformation, maritime transport and electric vehicles, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) told a press conference on Tuesday.

Wang Yupeng, deputy director of the European Affairs Department of the MOFCOM, made the remarks as he noted that the 6th China-Nordic Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum, co-hosted by Central China's Hubei Province and the MOFCOM, will be held in Wuhan, Hubei on Friday.

This is the first and only long-term economic and trade cooperation mechanism specifically for Nordic countries. This year's forum will focus on new fields including the green, low-carbon and digital economies, Wang said.

Under the overall framework of China-EU economic and trade cooperation, the field of economic exchanges between China and the Nordic region has been expanding with high-quality development, Wang noted.

From January to August, trade between China and Nordic countries reached $35.44 billion, up 5.7 percent year-on year, Wang said, noting that in the context of the weak recovery of the world economy, it is not easy to maintain such growth.

Judging from the trend, China's trade with Nordic countries is expected to exceed $50 billion this year, increasing by more than $10 billion compared with the first forum in 2018. Computers, communication equipment, pharmaceutical products, ships, auto parts and other high value-added products lead trade on both sides, according to Wang.

Nordic countries are an important source of foreign capital for China and a destination for Chinese investment. Cumulative direct investment from the five Nordic countries in China has exceeded $15 billion, with Sweden and Denmark each investing more than $5 billion, ranking them among the top European countries.

In the first eight months of this year, China's direct investment in Nordic countries totaled about $1 billion, accounting for more than 20 percent of the country's investment in Europe during the same period.

China and the Nordic countries are both staunch supporters of multilateralism and free trade. We look forward to working with the Nordic countries to jointly uphold the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, maintain the stability of the China-Europe industrial and supply chains, and jointly oppose protectionism in the fields of trade and investment, Wang noted.