Chinese President Xi Jinping and Speaker of the Finnish Parliament Maria Lohela agreed to expand cooperation between the two countries' legislatures during a meeting in Helsinki on Wednesday.
Xi hailed Lohela's efforts to promote exchanges between China's National People's Congress (NPC) and the Finnish Parliament, stressing that the Finnish Parliament was one of the first parliaments in the West to conduct friendly exchanges with the NPC.
"Last year marked the 60th anniversary of exchanges between the two countries' legislatures,” Xi said. “The cooperation between the legislatures has been playing a significant role in China-Finland relations."
He suggested that the legislatures should improve their current cooperative mechanism and make more contributions to the development of bilateral relations.
The Chinese president said the two sides should diversify the forms of exchange and interaction, and facilitate better understanding between their lawmakers, particularly young lawmakers.
Lohela said the Finnish Parliament agrees to deepen its exchanges with China's top legislature and promote communication between young lawmakers.
"The traditional friendship between Finland and China has a solid foundation among Finnish citizens," she said, adding that Finland regards the development of China as providing opportunities for Finland. "Finland is willing to enhance communication and cooperation with China on economy, trade, culture and winter sports as well as international affairs."
Xi and his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto held talks and made a joint statement earlier on Wednesday, confirming the establishment of a future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership between Beijing and Helsinki.
The Chinese president arrived in the Finnish capital of Helsinki on Tuesday for a state visit, the first by a Chinese head of state to the Nordic country in 22 years.
Related stories:
6329km
