CHINA / Background
Basic facts about Finland
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-09-10 09:02
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is to pay an official visit to Finland from
Sept. 9-12, during which he will meet with Finnish officials on ways of
promoting comprehensive Sino-Finnish cooperation and attend the 9th
China-EU summit and the sixth Asia-Europe Summit. The following is a
brief introduction to the country:
Finland lies in northern Europe, it borders Sweden on the northwest,
Norway on the north and Russia on the east. Bounded by the Baltic Sea on
the southwest, it has a total area of over 338,000 square km, one third
of which is found within the Arctic Circle.
The climate of Finland is marked by cold winters and fairly warm summers.
Finland has population of 5.22 million; most of them live in the south
where the climate is mild.
Ten percent of Finland's area is covered by water and it has around
188,000 lakes. Some 179,000 islands are scattered off its 1100 km of
coastline.
With two thirds of its area covered by forest, the country is extremely
rich in forestry resources, wood and paper products, and forestry
machinery has become one of its economic pillars.
Finland experienced a significant boost to its national economy with the
growth of its forestry and metal industries after the end of WWII, and it
now leads the world in the fields of energy, communication, biotech and
environmental protection.
In 2003, Finland was named "the most competitive country in the world"
for the year 2003-2004 by the World Economic Forum.
China and Finland established diplomatic relations in October 1950.
Bilateral relations have developed smoothly, with multiple exchanges of
high-level visits and contacts.
Economic and trade links between the two countries have progressed
vigorously in recent years and Finland became China's largest trade
partner in northern Europe in 2004. In 2005, bilateral trade volume
topped 6.25 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 13.4 percent on a yearly
basis.
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