At noon of April 14, Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian met in Beijing with his Swedish counterpart, Mr. Carlgren. Both sides exchanged views on strengthening cooperation in the fields of response to climate change, chemicals management, water pollution control, biodiversity protection, etc..

Zhou Shengxian briefly introduced to the visitor the latest developments in the country's environmental protection work. He said, since last year, the National Congress of 17^th CPCCC and the following NPC and CPPCC had placed environmental protection at a more important and strategic status and made overall arrangements for the environmental protection work in the new era. At the same time, in order to upgrade the environmental management level, the country decided to set up the Ministry of Environmental Protection, which, after being established, would focus on solving environmental problems that affect sustainable development and public health and accelerate the historical transformations on environmental protection.

Zhou Shengxian said Sweden had advanced concepts and mature technologies in the environment field and would play an important role in the increasingly expanding environmental markets in China. He hoped that with the concerted efforts, the bilateral cooperation on environmental protection would be deepened and expanded.

Minister Carlgren highly appraised the country's aggressive progress in environmental protection, extended his gratitude for the attention of Ministry of Environmental Protection to the bilateral cooperation, and hoped that both sides would keep closer contacts, strengthen the cooperation, and promote the environmental protection cause together.