Finland, China pledge cooperation in Arctic affairs

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä on Tuesday held talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang pledging to enhance cooperation in Arctic affairs and sustainable development.

Sipilä attended the opening ceremony of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2017, also known as Summer Davos, in the northeastern coastal city of Dalian, on Tuesday morning.

He applauded the development of bilateral relations and cooperation, saying Finland hopes to cooperate with China in the areas of smart cities, environmental protection, clean energy, food, digital information and winter sports.

Finland supports China's hosting a successful Winter Olympic Games in 2022 and welcomes tourists and investments from China, said the Prime Minister.

Finland is ready to conduct exchanges and cooperation with China on Arctic affairs, Sipilä added.

Finland is an important cooperative partner of China in Northern Europe, said Li.

China is ready to work with Finland to carry forward the traditional friendship, expand innovation cooperation and push for an in-depth development of bilateral cooperation, he said.

Finland has advantages in environmental protection, technology and winter sports, and the two countries enjoy great potential for cooperation, he said.

He called on the two sides to deepen cooperation in above areas as well as in information communication, intelligent manufacturing, energy conservation and urbanization.

He also suggested the two nations jointly explore third-party markets and strengthen cooperation in tourism, civil aviation and people-to-people exchanges.

Li extended his welcome to Finland on assuming the rotating presidency of the Arctic Council for 2017 to 2019, saying China is willing to take this opportunity to improve exchanges and cooperation with Finland under the framework of the Arctic Council.

China also wants to enhance communication with Finland on international and regional affairs, and deepen cooperation within the framework of China-EU cooperation and China-Nordic countries cooperation, he added.

After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing ceremony of three cooperative documents in energy, sports and sustainable development.