President Xi touches on China-Finland economic ties in signed article

Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to pay a state visit to Finland at the invitation of Finnish President Sauli Niinisto from Tuesday to Thursday this week.

Ahead of his visit, a signed article by President Xi was published in the Helsinki Times, one of Finland's earliest English language newspapers.

In the article entitled "Our Enduring Friendship", the president hailed the traditional ties between the two countries, and the prospects for their further cooperation.

CRI's Guan Chao finds out more.

This year marks the centennial anniversary of Finland's independence.

In the signed article, President Xi expressed his happiness for Finnish people while reviewed China's close bond with the northern Europe country.

According to Xi Jinping, Finland is one of the first western countries to establish diplomatic ties with China.

The president also expressed gratitude to Finland's support to the disaster relief after the earthquake in southwest China in 2008, and hailed the success of Finnish businesses in Chinese market, which led to win-win results.

Currently, China and Finland are building a new cooperative partnership.

Touching on the economic front, President Xi said that the two economies are complementary and their cooperation would be mutually-beneficial, which is represented by the dovetailing between China's 13th Five Year Plan and Finland's development outlook for 2025.

China-Finland cooperation on trade and economy is among the most-concerned the topics for President Xi's upcoming visit.

The Finnish office of Zhongguancun Development Group locates in one of Finland's largest high-tech park in Espoo.

The office's director Zhu Ziqi explained the complementarity between the two countries.

"Finland's advantage lies in high concentration of innovative resources, in particular among small and medium businesses. In Finland even a small company with some 20 or 30 employees may boast a cutting-edge technology that is unique to the world. Such companies have mostly developed for decades, which make them good destinations for Chinese capital."

Citing a project he handled as an example, Zhu Ziqi further explained why the match between Chinese capital and Finnish technology makes a paradigm.

"China has the capital and market, while Finland has the technology. But in fact most of the technologies developed by Finnish companies haven't been brought to market. The technologies can be industrialized with the help of Chinese capital and market."

He said northern Europe is a land of opportunities that deserve attention of more Chinese enterprises.

Echoing Chinese Ambassador to Finland, Zhu also believed Xi Jinping's visit will inject new vitality to China-Finland cooperation.

In the signed article, Xi Jinping also hailed the communication between the two countries' people, including the growing Chinese market to Finnish tourism, and a series of cultural activities.

While picturing the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Xi Jinping prospected the two sides' cooperation in winter sports.

Finland is a realm of winter sports.

In Finland, watching hokey games at weekends is a weekly routine of almost every household.

As to developing winter sports in China, Finland people have given their suggestions.

Jokerit is a Helsinki-based professional hockey team.

The team's assistant captain Jesse said China needs to form a culture for winter sports.

"It's a sport that everyone watches. And I just grew up with it. It's just that everything I knew when I was little was hockey."

Finland has played the hockey for almost a hundred years.

According to Jokerit Club's manager, the country has a sound system ready for the game, which can be sub-divided into junior, management, and coaching systems.

Renowned Finnish Hokey player Jari Kurri said that China has already shown potential in winter sports, and Finland would like to provide help.

"Today, ice hockey is a very popular game. Now, we have China very interested in the game. So I think we can just pass around the information. They need to learn about this game."

Xi Jinping's upcoming visit is his first visit to a European Union member this year as well as his first visit to northern Europe as head of state.

Speaking about the current changes in the EU at the concluding part of the signed article, Xi Jinping said he believes the integration of Europe fits the trend of history and the continent has the ability to overcome challenges.

The president also called for both sides to stick to open and inclusiveness to contribute to world peace and prosperity.

For CRI, this is Guan Chao.