President Xi Jinping and Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf exchanged congratulations on Friday on the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Sweden, with both leaders pledging to enhance bilateral cooperation.

In his message to the Swedish king, Xi noted that Sweden was among the first European countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

He said that since they established diplomatic relations 75 years ago, China and Sweden have seen their relations maintain general stability, and their cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, science and technology, education and people-to-people exchanges has been expanding with positive results.

Saying that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Sweden relations, Xi expressed his willingness to work with the Swedish king to take the anniversary as a new starting point to enhance political mutual trust between the two countries, deepen pragmatic cooperation, enhance people-to-people exchanges, and jointly support multilateralism and free trade, in order to deliver more benefits to the two peoples and make greater contributions to world peace and prosperity.

The Swedish king expressed his sincere wishes for the continuous deepening of Sweden-China close cooperation, saying that he expects bilateral friendly relations to develop continuously.

caodesheng@chinadaily.com.cn

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