Diplomatic exchanges

President Xi and his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto met skaters' representatives from the two countries in Helsinki, Finland, on April 5, 2017, with both sides pledging to enhance cooperation in winter sports.

The athletes had just attended the World Figure Skating Championships 2017 in Helsinki.

Xi congratulated Finland on hosting a successful sporting event and commended the athletes for their outstanding performance.

He noted that sports exchange is an important bridge in promoting the China-Finland friendship, saying that China has a lot to learn from Finland as the Nordic country excels in winter sports.

In 2019, the two leaders attended the launch event of the 2019 China-Finland Year of Winter Sports. There is great potential for the two countries to enhance winter sports cooperation, Xi said, adding that the winter sports year will inject new impetus for people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.