ＮＰＣ Ｓｔａｎｄｉｎｇ Ｃｏｍｍｉｔｔｅｅ Ｖｉｃｅ Ｃｈａｉｒｍａｎ Ｉｓｍａｉｌ ＡｍａｔＭｅｅｔｉｎｇ ｗｉｔｈ Ｆｉｎｎｉｓｈ Ｇｏｖｅｒｎｏｒｓ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ

Invited by the CPAFFC， a Finnish governors delegation with Peter Lindback， governor of the Province of Aland as the head， and Jorma Ahonen， first deputy governor of the Province of Eastern Finland， as his deputy visited China in April. Ismail Amat， vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress， met with the delegation in the Great Hall of the People on April 14. The Vice Chairman spoke highly of the friendly relations between the two countries and briefed the guests on China’s economic development during the meeting.

Vice Chairman Ismail Amat said， you have come to China at the invitation of the CPAFFC， which is a national people’s organization of the People’s Republic of China engaging in people-to-people diplomatic work. Since its founding 50 years ago， the CPAFFC has made positive contributions to enhancing understanding and friendship between the Chinese and other peoples of the world， furthering international cooperation， safeguarding world peace and promoting common development. He expressed the hope that the two sides would strengthen cooperation in the future.

The vice chairman said， China and Finland have maintained good relations since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1950. Finland actively supported the restoration of the lawful seat of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations in the 1970s and has always adhered to the one-China principle on the Taiwan issue， for which we are very grateful.

The vice chairman continued， the two countries have seen smooth development in their bilateral relations over the years. Especially since the 1990s， there have been frequent high-level exchanges of visits. The state visit to Finland made by President Jiang Zemin in July 1995 was the first visit to Finland by the president of China. In 2002， Finnish President Tarja Halonen visited China. The exchanges in various fields between the two countries are also active. In recent years， trade between our two countries has grown fast. We have built over 70 projects in the fields of paper making， timber processing， cable manufacturing， urban heat supply， telecommunications， environmental protection， etc. with the loans provided by the Finnish Government. Cooperation between the enterprises of our two countries has been very successful. Norkia， UPM-kymmene Group and KONE China are all well-known in China and Norkia mobile phones are favoured by Chinese consumers because of its excellent quality and good services. Since the signing of the agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries in 1986， the trade plus technology projects such as channeling water to Miyun reservoir in Beijing in winter， the prevention of spring flood caused by melting river ice at the lower reaches of the Yellow River and leather processing in Hebei Province have been carried out successfully in China. The two countries have also achieved fruitful results in the fields of culture and education， cooperation between local governments as well as people-to-people friendly contact.

Peter Lindback， head of the delegation， said， the aims of our visit are: firstly， to learn about the progress of China’s reform and opening up and China’s investment climate and policies so as to give further impetus to Finnish enterprises to make investments in China; secondly， to explore the possibility of cooperation in the educational field---to run colleges together with the Chinese universities and exchange students; thirdly， to promote the establishment and development of friendship-city relations between the two countries; and fourthly， to serve as a bridge for cooperation in hi-tech， tourism and other areas between Finland and China. Most of the delegation members are visiting China for the first time and we are shocked at China’s rapid development and achievements. We will enhance cooperation with the departments concerned in China and make fresh contributions to the development of friendly relations between our two countries.

At the end of the meeting， Vice Chairman Ismail Amat asked the delegation to convey his greetings to the speaker of the Finnish Parliament and extended an invitation to him to visit China at a time convenient to him.

CPAFFC President Chen Haosu and Vice Mayor Zhang Mao of Beijing met with the delegation and hosted banquets in its honour on separate occasions. The delegation also visited Norkia and other Finnish enterprises in the Beijing Development Zones.