Finnish PM arrives in Beijing for 4-day visit to China

China

Finnish PM arrives in Beijing for 4-day visit to China

2026-01-25 03:13 Last Updated At：06:17

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo arrived in Beijing on Sunday to pay an official visit to China from Jan. 25 to 28, at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

During the visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with the Finnish prime minister, while Chinese Premier Li and Chairman of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee Zhao Leji will hold talks and meet with Orpo, respectively, to conduct in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern.

Finland was among the first Western countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, and was the first European country to sign an inter-governmental trade agreement with China. Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state in recent years, the future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership between the two countries has been deepened, and cooperation in various fields has been steadily advanced.

In 2025, bilateral trade between China and Finland exceeded 8 billion U.S. dollars in value, while mutual investment stock surpassed 23 billion U.S. dollars, reflecting sustained enthusiasm of enterprises from both sides for strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation.

During Orpo's visit, China's Ministry of Commerce will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Finnish side on strengthening the work of the China-Finland Committee for Innovative Business Cooperation, and enterprises from both sides will sign a number of business cooperation agreements, said a spokesperson for the ministry.

Orpo will be accompanied by executives from more than 20 Finnish companies spanning machinery, forestry, innovation, clean energy, food and other key sectors, according to the spokesperson.

China attaches great importance to the development of China-Finland relations, and stands ready to work with Finland to maintain close high-level exchanges, consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen economic and trade cooperation, promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges, foster mutual understanding and collaboration in multilateral affairs, and jointly elevate bilateral relations to a new height, said a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China's forest, grass coverage rate surpasses 56 pct: report

China's forest and grass coverage rate has exceeded 56 percent thanks to its greening efforts, according to a report released on Thursday by the National Greening Commission.

The country's afforestation areas surpassed 3.56 million hectares in 2025, the report said, adding that it had also restored nearly 4.93 million hectares of degraded grassland last year.

These achievements have brought China's forest coverage rate to a remarkable 25.09 percent, with forest stock volume totaling almost 20.99 billion cubic meters.

Last year, the output value of China's forestry and grassland industry reached nearly 11 trillion yuan (about 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars), the report revealed.

Ecotourism remained popular, recording over 3 billion trips in 2025, it said.

China also celebrated its 48th National Tree Planting Day on Thursday, with tree planting and afforestation activities held across the country in recent days.