Niinistö, Xi discuss bilateral, EU-China ties over phone

President Sauli Niinistö on Monday had a telephone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and discussed various bilateral and international issues, said the President Office in a press release.

The Presidents started with the bilateral relationship between Finland and China, and discussed opportunities to further improve trade and investments as well as cooperation on education and research between the two countries.

The conversation also focused on circular economy, clean technologies and other joint measures to tackle climate change and Niinistö’s hope for China to join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action raised interest.

Niinistö presented his thinking on the Helsinki Spirit, which originated at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1975, and the possibility to reinvigorate it on a global level by the year 2025.

He raised the human responsibilities of the present day which are intrinsically connected to the Helsinki Spirit, including the safeguarding of peace, tackling common threats such as climate change and pandemics, and the fulfillment of human rights.

In this context both Presidents stressed the importance of genuine dialogue.

They also discussed the relationship between the European Union and China in this same spirit.