The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China has its roots in the China Resource Group, an informal gathering of the General Managers and Chief Representatives of Swedish companies in China. This group used to meet at the Radisson SAS Hotel (now named Radisson BLU Hotel) in Beijing to exchange ideas and discuss business problems on the Chinese market.
In 1997, the initiator of the group, Johan Böjkst? Of Aboda Invest (now named Eastwei Relations), and Rolf Gren from Electrolux decided to try and make this group into a formal Chamber of Commerce. They were joined by Tommy Liu of Chinese Consulting in Scandinavia (now working at KTC Automation Control Systems (Beijing) Co., Ltd.) and Leif Engstrom of Volvo, who formed an Interim Board until the Chamber could be legally registered and a formal Board elected. After an application period of almost a year, Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China received formal recognition from the Chinese authorities March 5, 1998.
Two months later, on May 10, 1998, the Grand Opening and first Annual General Meeting were held at the Radisson SAS Hotel Beijing. More than 200 guests from Sweden and China were invited to the Grand Opening. The first board consisted of Rolf Gren, Chairman; Tommy Liu, Vice Chairman; Johan Björksten, General Manager; Leif Engstrom, Treasurer; Birger Lund; Frederic Cho; Jan Bjork; Johan Andren; Anders Hagglund and Mats Harborn. Anders Sundstrom, the Swedish Minister of Industry, Rolf Gren, the newly elected Chairman of Swedish Chamber, and Ms. Zhong Min, Vice Chairman of the Chamber's Chinese sponsor, CCPIT (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade), tied ribbons in the three colors of the Swedish and Chinese flags as a symbol of the cooperation between the two countries.
During the first year, 30 Founding Members, 41 Ordinary Members and 1 Associate Member joined the Chamber.
Founding Members:
- ABB
- Atlas Copco
- Bulten
- Eastwei Relations
- Electrolux
- Elof Hansson
- Ericsson
- Handelsbanken
- Hoganas
- IKEA
- Nanjing Ericsson
- Perstorp
- Sandvik
- SAPA
- SAS Airlines
- SEB
- SKF
- Swedish Trade Council
- Tetra Pak
- Volvo