Chinese President due on April 5

President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping is scheduled to arrive Finland on an official visit on April 5, said an official press release.

Jinping will be accompanied by the First Lady of China Peng Liyuan and a high-level delegation during his visit to Helsinki.

President Sauli Niinistö and First Lady Jenni Haukio, who host the visit will welcome their counterparts at an official ceremony in the Presidential Palace on the day.

The agenda for the state visit will include talks between the presidents and discussions between the delegations.

Themes of the discussions will include political and economic relations between Finland and China and topical international affairs.

During his visit, President Xi will also meet with Speaker of the Finnish Parliament Maria Lohela and Prime Minister Juha Sipilä.

President Sauli Niinistö made an official visit to China in April 2013, during which he met with President Xi on Hainan Island.

Niinistö and Xi last met bilaterally in The Hague, Netherlands, in March 2014. They also met in 2010, when Xi visited Finland as Vice President of China and Niinistö was the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament.

The first and only presidential visit made so far from China to Finland occurred in 1995, when President Jiang Zemin made a state visit to Finland.