Chinese premier meets Finnish president

BEIJING - Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Tuesday in Beijing.

Li said that since China and Finland established the future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership, bilateral relations have maintained a sound momentum of development and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields has been continuously promoted, benefiting the people of both countries.

China is willing to work with Finland to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, maintain close high-level exchanges, continue to carry forward the traditional friendship, consolidate and enhance political mutual trust, and push bilateral relations and cooperation to a new high, Li said.

Economic globalization is facing headwinds at present but openness and cooperation remain the general trend, Li noted. China is willing to work with Finland to stick to opening up and cooperation, expand trade, strengthen cooperation in key areas such as circular economy, information and communication, smart energy and agricultural and food products, give full play to economic complementarity, and promote mutual benefit and win-win results at a higher level.

China will continue to foster a world-class, market-oriented business environment governed by a sound legal framework and welcomes Finnish companies to deepen their presence in the Chinese market, Li said.

It is hoped that Finland will provide a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises and play a positive role in promoting the healthy development of China-Europe economic and trade relations, he added.

Li said that China is ready to work with Finland to further facilitate personnel exchanges and expand exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture, education and sports to consolidate popular support for the friendly cooperation between the two countries.

Stubb said Finland attaches importance to developing relations with China and is a reliable cooperative partner of China.

Finland looks forward to strengthening exchanges with China at all levels, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation on economy, trade, agriculture, green energy and sustainable development, and strengthening education and people-to-people exchanges to open a new chapter in bilateral relations, he added.

Finland appreciates China's important role in international affairs and is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China in fields like global security and tackling climate change, Stubb noted.