Opening remarks by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at the Cleantech Seminar in Beijing on 26 May 2010

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It is a great pleasure for me to visit China again. I am very happy that we are organising this Cleantech Seminar in Beijing today together with our Chinese partners.

This year marks the 60th Anniversary of our diplomatic relations. I am very happy that Vice Chairman Wang Gang and many high officials and friends of Finland participated in the reception marking the Anniversary yesterday.

In recent years, China has become Finland’s leading trade partner in Asia and our fourth largest worldwide. China is also one of the most important partners for Finland in research and development. Under the bilateral science and technology cooperation agreement – signed in 1986 – there are currently around 100 joint projects. The main areas of cooperation are information and communication technology, nano and material technology, pharmaceutics and the environment.

We should look for ways to increase our cooperation, and environmental technologies certainly belong to the most promising areas.

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The well-being of people goes hand in hand with the well-being of nature. It is essential to create energy efficient and environmentally friendly solutions. We must make sustainable development our goal and pursue it with determination.

Cleantech Finland is a brand which combines Finnish competences in the area of environmentally sound technologies. It covers energy efficiency, industrial processes, renewable energies as well as water and waste management. Finland wants to be a forerunner in developing clean technologies. We have already been ranked high in global sustainability comparisons.

In order to promote the Chinese – Finnish cooperation in the field of the environment, we have established the Finnish Environmental Cluster for China. Some 150 companies and a number of organisations are involved in promoting contacts between Chinese and Finnish cleantech actors. Presently, we have already some 30 joint projects in operation.

Since 2004, Finland has had an innovation centre in Shanghai. It has provided an excellent platform for Finnish companies and research institutes to enter the Chinese market, build networks and find partners.

Last year, a Memorandum of Understanding on High Tech Cooperation between Finland and China was signed. This memorandum forms an excellent basis for our bilateral cooperation in clean technologies. I am happy that a China-Finland innovation centre will soon be established in Finland.

Other good examples of our cooperation are the two Sino-Finnish digi-eco-city projects, which are starting this year. Once finished, these cities will provide high quality ecological living and working conditions for a hundred thousand people.

We need to ensure that our economic activities are ecologically sustainable basis. Finland and China have very good possibilities to cooperate in developing clean technologies. I sincerely hope that this seminar will help us to focus our attention on this future-oriented area in our relations.