Minister Väyrynen promoted environmental exports to China
Press release 28/2008
29 January, 2008
Finland actively strives to increase the country’s exports to China. Finnish authorities and companies have identified trade barriers that they hope China will dismantle. There are trade barriers, for instance, on many products in the environment sector.
Minister Chen promised that the Ministry of Commerce will examine the Finnish requests carefully. It is increasingly important to the Chinese government to strive to balance the country’s economic relations. The surplus in China’s foreign trade continues to grow. China’s surplus in trade with the European Union rose as much as 40 per cent last year. Finland’s trade with China, too, shows a considerable deficit.
Väyrynen reminded Chen of the joint initiative presented at the World Trade Organisation by the EU and the USA, the aim being to remove trade barriers from 43 environmental products. Environmental issues were also linked with discussions on bilateral so-called Eco City plans, where Finnish technology and expertise would be applied in Chinese “model cities”. The ministers decided that implementation of the initiative would be continued at expert level, for instance, at the economic-industrial-technology meeting to be held in May.
Väyrynen invited his colleague to Finland. Chen Deming accepted the invitation straightaway and announced he would perhaps come to Finland already this year.
Minister Väyrynen’s trip to China includes several visits to events organised by businesses. On Monday 28 January he delivered the keynote speech at the Outotec Technologies Seminar, with the aim of promoting cooperation to find more energy-efficient and more environment-friendly solutions meeting the needs of the Chinese mining industry.
One goal of the visit is to expand the Finnish perspective on regional development in China. The visit continues from Beijing to Chengdu, a leading economic centre in Central China, and then on to Shanghai.
Additional information: Päivi Luostarinen, Deputy Director General, Department for the Americas and Asia, mobile tel. +358 40 703 2345; Jorma Korhonen, Director General, Department for External Economic Relations, mobile tel. +358 40 732 4567; Päivi Nevala, Advisor to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, mobile tel. +358 40 753 4375