Honorable Ms. Liisa Jaakonsaari,
Honorable Mr. Kari Ahonen,
Honorable Members of Parliament,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends,
Good evening!
On behalf of my wife and my colleagues, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our friends from the Finland-China Friendship Group of the Finnish Parliament.
During the past year, the Sino-Finnish friendly and cooperative relations have witnessed a new development. The political dialogue between the two countries, including the contacts between the legislative and judicial institutions, have been further deepened. The economic and trade as well as the scientific and technological cooperation has been more intensified. The exchanges in culture, education and other fields have become more dynamic. Last year, the bilateral trade volume increased up to almost 3.5 billion US$, registering a 30% rise over the same period of the year before last. The cooperation between China and Finland in the field of the investment has also been further enhanced. The total volume of the Finnish investment in China has amounted to almost 4 billion US$, which made China as one of the major investment destinations of Finland.
For the friendly exchanges of the two countries last year, the two sides have inherited the good traditions, and conducted even more frequent and closer contacts and cooperation at various levels, which made the mutual understanding enhanced and the political groundwork more consolidated. Last year, Mr. Luo Gan, Member of the Standing Committee of Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Mr. Wang Zhongyu, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Ms. Wuyun Qimuge, Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress paid official visits or a transit visit to Finland. The Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee and the Law Committee of the National People’s Congress of China received sincere hospitality from the Finnish Parliament when they were visiting here. The Finnish Parliament sent 4 young parliamentarians to attend the Asia-Europe Young Parliamentarians’ Meeting held in Guilin, China. We are very happy to notice that there are about 50 parliamentarians in this Finland-China Friendship Group, which actually counts one-fourth of the total parliamentarians and becomes the biggest group among all groups in the Finnish Parliament. This avails itself with clear indications of your keen interest in China, and a closer parliamentary exchanges and cooperation in future.
This year, we will have some visits from Finland to China. Among them are: Mr. Antti Kalliomäki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Admiral Juhani Kaskeala, Chief of Defense, Mr. Erkki Virtanen, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Transport and Communication Committee of Parliament. And also President of the Supreme Court, Mr. Leif Sevón, President of the Supreme Administrative Court, Mr. Pekka Hallberg, are considering their visits to China. The Chinese side is also preparing some visits of different levels to Finland. We are quite certain that the year 2004 will be another year with rapid development of the Sino-Finnish relationship.
I would like to take this chance to extend our sincere gratitude to all of you for your tremendous contribution and diligent efforts in promoting the bilateral cooperation and exchanges between our two countries. And I am looking forward to a broader and more in-depth development of the Sino-Finnish comprehensive and friendly relationship, with the close cooperation and joint efforts of our friends from the Finland-China Friendship Group of the Finnish Parliament.
Finally, I would like to propose a toast:
To the new development of the Sino-Finnish friendly relationship,
To the closer parliamentary contacts between the two countries,
And to the health of all our friends present today,
Kippis!