Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto attended the opening ceremony of the 2019 China-Finland Year of Winter Sports in Beijing on Tuesday.
Sun pointed out that jointly launching the Winter Sports Year was an important consensus reached by President Xi Jinping and President Niinisto .
China and Finland have a solid foundation for cooperation in winter sports, and have made rapid progress in this area. The two sides will continue to implement the consensus reached by the two leaders to make the Winter Sports Year full of fruitful results.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto (R) and First Lady Jenni Haukio (L) attend the opening ceremony of 2019 Sino-Finland winter sports year in Beijing, China, January 15, 2019. /VCG Photo
President Niinisto said Finland attaches great importance to jointly holding the Winter Sports Year and believes the cooperation will inject new impetus into bilateral relations. Sun Chunlan and President Niinisto also visited a photo exhibition of sports exchanges between the two countries.
Daily National.com's sports editor Mike Bako spoke to CGTN about this co-operation in winter sports between China and Finland: "The two countries are looking for exposure. Finland has got a great tradition in winter sports and their expertise will come good for China."
"The exchange programs between the two countries will help China ingrain the grassroots developments of winter sports in Finland."
He also mentioned that "China is hoping for more such participation ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which would make the Chinese capital the first venue in the world to host both Summer and Winter Olympics."