Shanxi seeks out opportunities in Finland

North China's Shanxi province chased business opportunities in Finland at a Shanxi-Finland tech innovation cooperation meeting -- part of the 2019 Shanxi Brands Silk Road Tour -- held on April 26 in Turku, a major innovation and industrial base in the Nordic country.

Finland was one of the first Western countries to establish diplomatic relations with China. It was the first Western country to sign an intergovernmental trade agreement with Beijing. China is Finland's largest trading partner in Asia and the world's fifth largest trading partner. 

Shanxi is willing to cooperate with Finland to build research and development institutes, laboratories, technology industrial parks, tech company incubators and advanced technology demonstration and promotion bases, according to Chen Hecai, director of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Jari Rastas, director general of the World Trade Center Turku, outlined preferential policies for joining hands with the trade center at the meeting, in a bid to attract more Shanxi entrepreneurs and companies.

Several Shanxi companies in the energy, wine, medicine and agriculture sectors promoted themselves at the meeting -- and they later visited industrial parks and businesses in Finland to seek out partnerships to expand their business in the country, as well as bring advanced technologies and industries back to Shanxi.