On April 21, 2009, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao held talks with Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen at the Great Hall of the People.

Wen said China and Finland share the traditional friendly relations and are good friends and good partners in international and bilateral areas. Hailing the sound economic and trade ties between both sides, Wen said Finland has continuously expanded pragmatic cooperation with China with fruitful results achieved. Wen said the current international financial crisis has exerted severe impact on the two economies. He urged both sides to cooperate closely and forge ahead to jointly cope with the challenges, which will help improve Sino-Finnish relations and benefit the two peoples.

Wen said the Chinese government is ready to work with the Finnish government to facilitate trade and investment between the companies of the two countries. "We hope Finland will take a long-term perspective, increase its investment and technology research in China and carry out cooperation with China in innovation in a bid to cultivate new economic growth points," Wen said. In order to promote sustainable development, the premier stressed exchanges and cooperation in such areas as energy efficiency, environmental protection and ecological construction in which Finland and China are mutually complementary.

Vanhanen said Finland and China had always maintained sound relations and had conducted good cooperation and communication in broad areas and on many major international and regional issues. Both sides were economically complementary and had great potential for cooperation, especially in areas such as energy conservation, environmental protection, ecological construction, climate change and technological innovation. "The Finnish government welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in Finland and will offer help," he said, adding that his country will also provide full support to Finnish enterprises' participation in the World Expo in Shanghai. Amid the current global financial and economic crisis, closer cooperation among nations is of great significance to promoting the recovery of the world economy. He pledged to work with the Chinese side to make relentless efforts in this regard.

Vanhanen reaffirmed his country's firm adherence to the one-China position on issues concerning Taiwan and Tibet.

Following the talks, the two prime ministers met with Finnish entrepreneurs who accompanied Vanhanen to visit China.

Prior to the talks, Wen held a welcoming ceremony for Vanhanen's visit at the North Hall of the Great Hall of the People. Vice Chairman Yang Bangjie of the Central Committee of China Zhi Gong Party, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya and Chinese Ambassador to Finland Ma Keqing attended the welcoming ceremony.