China, Finland to deepen cooperation

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of "Slush 2014" in Helsinki, Finland, on Nov. 18, 2014. Wang Yang said that China is a "new continent for startups and innovations," sprouting up Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent and many other successful "Chinese stories." (Xinhua/Li Jizhi)

China is willing to learn experiences from Finland and other countries in supporting innovation, as well as to actively foster international cooperation, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said in Helsinki on Tuesday.

Addressing the opening ceremony of "Slush 2014" in Helsinki, Wang Yang said that China is a "new continent for startups and innovations," sprouting up Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent and many other successful "Chinese stories."

Wang Yang also attended the Sino-Finnish Business Forum on Tuesday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto last year jointly announced the upgrading of the two countries' relations to "a future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership", which opened a new chapter in bilateral relations, said Wang Yang at the forum.

"We need to implement the consensus reached by the two presidents, to comprehensively deepen the pragmatic cooperation between China and Finland, and to push the bilateral economic and trade cooperation forward to a larger, wider and higher level," he said.

He assured the audience with four proposals.

First of all, to explore fresh potential of bilateral trade growth, and to broaden cooperation in fields including finance, education, culture and tourism.

Secondly, to promote cooperation in technological innovation to a higher level, making use of technological advantages to build a variety of innovation platforms and forming a cooperative pattern for joint technological research, market share, and brand co-building.

Thirdly, to cultivate new bright spots in cooperation of saving energy and protecting environment, by building the eco-innovation park together, and pushing forward projects like Beautiful Beijing and Pure Finland, and to promote advanced green concepts, technologies and products.

Finally, seeking a new phase of agricultural cooperation, expanding bilateral agricultural trade, building a platform for cooperation in agricultural development and innovation.

During the visit, Wang also met with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb.

Stubb said Finland would like to strengthen friendly relations with China, to broaden new fields of cooperation, to promote business exchanges between the two countries.