China willing to deepen cooperation with Finland for higher-level mutual benefits: premier

China stands ready to strengthen the alignment of development strategies with Finland and deepen cooperation in various sectors to achieve higher-level mutual benefits, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said when holding talks with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Beijing on Tuesday.

Li said China and Finland jointly celebrated the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations last year. He also mentioned President Xi Jinping's meeting with Prime Minister Orpo on Tuesday morning, saying that they profoundly reviewed the valuable experience in the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations and provided strategic guidance for further deepening China-Finland relations and cooperation.

China is willing to work with Finland to carry forward the traditional friendship between the two countries, deepen and enrich the China-Finland future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and equality so as to bring more benefits to the two peoples, Li said.

Noting this year marks the start of China's 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), Li said China stands ready to strengthen the alignment of development strategies with Finland, fully unleash the potential of bilateral trade, and deepen cooperation in sectors including investment, telecommunications, clean technology, special vessel building, new-type urban development, and life and health, so as to achieve higher-level mutual benefits.

The Chinese premier called on the two sides to strengthen cooperation in tourism, language and vocational education, and youth and at the subnational level, so as to continuously enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

Given the current global economic challenges, China and Finland should join hands to maintain an open and cooperative international economic and trade order, uphold multilateralism and free trade, safeguard the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, and better share opportunities and achieve win-win results through open cooperation, Li said.

He also expressed the hope that Finland will play a positive role in promoting the development of China-EU relations.

For his part, Orpo said that Finland is committed to continuously deepening its relations with China, and stands ready to enhance high-level visits and exchanges at all levels, deepen cooperation in trade and investment as well as people-to-people exchanges, while strengthening communication and coordination on multilateral affairs and safeguarding free trade and the multilateral trading system.

Finland welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in Finland and is willing to play a constructive role in promoting the development of EU-China relations, he said.

Following the talks, Li and Orpo witnessed the signing of multiple cooperation documents covering science and technology, housing and urban-rural development, customs, culture and tourism, economy and trade, and energy.