Sweden's second Confucius Institute was inaugurated Tuesday at the Karlstad University in the province of Varmland.

Gu Liya (L), the Communist Party Secretary of the Southwest Jiaotong University, shakes hands with Thomas Blom, Principal of the Karlstad University during the inaugural ceremony of the Confucius Institute in Karlstad, Sweden, March 29, 2011. Sweden's second Confucius Institute was inaugurated Tuesday at the Karlstad University in the province of Varmland. The Confucius Institute will be jointly run by the Karlstad University and the Southwest Jiaotong University of China.

Eva Eriksson, governor of Varmland,said at the inaugural ceremony that she will fully support the institute and hope that through the Confucius Institute, more Swedish people will understand Chinese culture and promote culture exchange and economic and trade cooperation between Sweden and China.

The Confucius Institute will be jointly run by the Karlstad University and the Southwest Jiaotong University of China.

Gu Liya, the Communist Party Secretary of the Southwest Jiaotong University, expressed the hope that intitute will become a platform for the exchange and cooperation between the two universities.

Zhang Ning, Counselor of Education of the Chinese Embassy in Sweden, said that Confucius Institutes will help popularize Chinese language teaching and provide the best learning material for the Chinese language and culture learners in other countries.

The first Confucius Institute in Sweden, the Nordic Confucius Institute, was established in Stockholm in 2005. It was also the first in Europe.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2011)