Stockholm- Swedish King Carl Gustaf is to pay a state visit to Italy along with Queen Silvia in March, the royal palace and Swedish foreign ministry said Wednesday.

The royals were to be accompanied by Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and a delegation of Swedish business leaders.

Swedish State Secretary Frank Belfrage said the March 24-27 visit offered "an opportunity to deepen relations and to discuss concrete projects."

Signhild Arnegard Hansen, chairwoman of the confederation of Swedish Enterprise, said some 20 companies were to accompany the royals and attend a seminar in Milan.

Stockholm - Swedish King Carl Gustaf was criticized Friday for saying that he supported culling the wolf population.

"We have to cull the wolf population, otherwise it will explode," the moanrch told Swedish television news during a moose hunt on Thursday.

"They eat a lot, that is a fact," the king added.

The remarks were welcomed by the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management, but were criticized by, among others, the conservation movement WWF.

The king has been chairman of the Swedish branch of the WWF since 1988.