Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday met with Finnish President Tarja
Halonen on bilateral relations.
Finland was not only the first country in the Western world to
establish diplomatic relations with China, but also the first
Western nation to sign an inter-governmental trade agreement with
China, Wen noted.
Finland also gave positive support to China in the efforts to
restore China's lawful seat in the United Nations in early 1970s.
All these showed the friendly feelings of the Finnish people
towards the Chinese people, he said.
Over the past few decades, China and Finland have all along
developed bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect,
equality and mutual benefit, and great success has been achieved in
bilateral cooperation in various fields, he said.
"To deepen the Sino-Finnish friendship and cooperation is in
line with our common aspirations and conforms to both sides'
fundamental interests," Wen said.
China attaches great importance to its relationship with
Finland, and regards Finland as a trustworthy partner, he said,
adding that China is ready to work together with Finland to raise
the friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation to a higher level,
he added.
On China-EU relations, Wen said political dialogue and
consultation between China and the European Union is deepening, and
the two sides' cooperation in various sectors are becoming even
closer.
At the just-concluded ninth China-EU summit, which was a great
success, China and the EU agreed to negotiate a new partnership
cooperation agreement, which would usher in a new era of China-EU
ties, Wen said.
"We appreciate the efforts Finland has made to push forward the
development of China-EU relations since it took over the rotating
EU presidency on July 1. We hope Finland would continue to play its
positive role in deepening the China-EU strategic cooperation
partnership," he said.
At the meeting, Halonen expressed satisfaction over the
long-term friendship between the two countries. She hoped the
bilateral relationship will be further promoted through regular
exchanges of high-level visits.
Wen and Halonen also exchanged views on international and
regional issues of common concern. Both agreed that China and
Finland should strengthen communication and coordination in their
joint efforts to help resolve such thorny issues as the Middle East
crisis.
(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2006)
