In an exclusive interview with the People’s Daily web publication, Finland’s newly appointed Ambassador to China Leena-Kaisa Mikkola answered questions about the relations between Finland and China and the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.
According to Ambassador Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, bilateral ties between the two nations will continue to prosper in multiple areas, while the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics will bring more opportunities for China and Finland’s future cooperation.
“I’ve been a diplomat for 29 years, and this is my sixth post of being abroad. This is my first post in Asia and I’m so happy that it happens to be China. This is a great opportunity for me to serve my country in this important nation, as well as develop our relations further,” said the ambassador.
Speaking on the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, the Ambassador said that Finland is a nation where winter sports are popular and the Nordic country is believed to seize this opportunity to further strengthen cooperation with China.
“Our two presidents agreed in 2017 that 2019 would be the year of winter sports between China and Finland. 2019 has passed but there are still plenty of things we can do together, especially thinking about the forthcoming Winter Olympics in February 2022. Finnish companies, for example, have been very active in doing their share in building the venues and preparing for the Winter Olympics. Winter sports are kind of a way of life for Finnish people, and we want to bring this notion to our Chinese friends,” Ambassador Leena-Kaisa Mikkola said.
Speaking on China-Finland cooperation, the Ambassador noted that this already spans across a broad scale and covers various areas including sustainable development, environmental issues, the rule of law, equality, innovation, and technologies.
“Personally, I’m very favorable of people to people contacts and I understand that there are some twin cities between China and Finland and also cooperation between various provinces, all such cooperation is something I want to focus on,” Ambassador Leena-Kaisa Mikkola said.
Read the full interview and more on the matter here
