On April 9, 2013, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto at the Great Hall of the People.
President Niinisto is the first European head of state to visit China since the inception of the new Chinese government in March, Li said. Chinese President Xi Jinping also held talks with Niinisto on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2013. Li reviewed the healthy and steady growth of China-Finland relations, which are based on mutual trust, equality and common prosperity. The premier said it is the consensus of the two countries to promote innovation and seek development. They should cooperate more in research and development of science and technology, innovation and design and seek combination of Finland's development strengths with China's industrialization and informatization based on the traditional cooperation. These fields have a broad future, according to Li. He urged the two countries to stick to the principle of opening up, protect intellectual property rights, expand trade and investment and promote cooperation between businesses in a bid to make the future-oriented new-type China-Finland partnership a paradigm of China-Europe mutually beneficial cooperation.
On China-Europe relations, Li underscored China's commitment to developing stronger relations with Europe. "China will continue to support European efforts to address debt issues and promote growth," he said.
Niinisto said the BFA conference was a great success and that China's development will benefit the world. The Finnish president added that the sound Finland-China cooperation has benefited the two nations, pledging efforts to deepen pragmatic cooperation to boost the new-type Finland-China partnership and European relations with China.
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