Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Prince Carl Philip welcomed Chinese President Hu Jintao on his arrival late Friday to Sweden, according to dpa. The visit that runs through Sunday was the first by a Chinese head of state to the Nordic country. Hu arrived from Germany where he met with leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) that earlier Friday concluded a three-day summit at Heiligendamm. The president's agenda included meetings with King Carl XVI Gustaf who visited China last year as well as talks with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, parliament speaker Per Westerberg and business leaders. Among business leaders to meet with President Hu Jintao were Peter Wallenberg, head of the influential Wallenberg family, his son Jacob who is chairman of Investor AB and Jacob's cousin, Marcus Wallenberg chairman of banking group Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken. Peter Wallenberg, 81, is honorary chairman of Investor, but still wields power since he is chairman of the family trust funds that also own a sizeable stake in vehicle maker Scania and other blue-chip firms. Ericsson chief executive Carl-Henric Svanberg was also included in the group. The Chinese president was Saturday slated to visit the west coast city of Gothenburg home to vehicle maker Volvo, as a guest of Volvo group chief executive Leif Johansson and Fredrik Arp, chief executive of the Ford-owned Volvo Cars. The city was due to welcome the three-masted ship Gotheborg back to its home port. Last July, King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia took part in ceremonies in China when the vessel sailed into the port city of Guangzhou. During its nine-month voyage, the vessel retraced the route from Sweden to China made by a merchant ship of the same name on three voyages from 1743 to 1745.
