Chinese Visa Application Service Center opens in Stockholm

Chinese Visa Application Service Center opens in Stockholm

STOCKHOLM, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Visa ApplicationService Center (CVASC) on Wednesday formally opened to the public inStockholm.

"The Chinese Embassy has always attached great importance to visawork and has always been committed to providing Swedish applicantswith high quality and efficient visa service," Wang Jianzhou, ChargeD' affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm, said at the openingceremony.

Wang said that in recent years, exchanges and cooperation in suchfields as trade, tourism, education and culture between China andSweden have reached unprecedented level. The number of visitors fromSweden to China has been increasing rapidly.

"The growing number of applicants and the growing demand forbetter visa service brings us new challenges, this is why theEmbassy decided to open this visa application service center," Wangsaid.

He said the center opened according to international practice andwith the approval of the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the agreementof the Swedish government.

"The goal is to provide the Swedish applicants with betterquality service so as to better facilitate the friendly exchangesand cooperation between the two peoples of both countries," Wangsaid.

Henrik Cederin, deputy head of the Department for Asia and thePacific Region of the Swedish Foreign Ministry, praised the opening.

"China is one of our top priorities. Talking about bilateralrelations, it has grown tremendously over the past few years, with anumber of new agreements and initiatives which have brought ourrelations to a new level," Cederin said.

Cederin praised the consular affairs as the backbone of mutualexchanges.

"With new ways of delivering services, it shows that the ChineseEmbassy in Stockholm really takes it seriously to the work tofurther bilateral exchanges that we have between our two countries,"Cederin said.

Jiang Feng, vice president of China Travel Service, whichcontracted to manage the center, said the facility boasts a digitalcalling system, desk service, automatic photograph service, copymachines, and Internet service. He said it also has staff who canspeak Swedish, Chinese and English.

"The room is designed according to Swedish style of being simpleand convenient. The space is much broader and the service is betterso that the applicants can have a happy experience of beginning thejourney to China," Jiang said.