Photo: Lu Wenao/GT

The annual World Winter Sports Expo will be held in Beijing from October 17 to October 20, organizers said Thursday, with European winter sports powerhouse Finland named guest country of honor.

"We are bringing our top-notch companies to the expo," Jarno Syrjala, Finland Ambassador to China, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"There are roughly 40 companies coming this year."

China and Finland, the Scandinavian country where winter sports enjoy wide popularity, are sharing a winter sports year in 2019, jointly promoting activities in both countries to boost cooperation.

"Even as we have 2019 as a theme year, our commitment to cooperate with the Chinese side in this field will go on until the Olympic Games and even beyond. We see this theme year only as a beginning," Syrjala said Thursday. 

"It's about giving and creating the best possibilities for Chinese people to enjoy winter sports, including building venues and providing top equipment."

Finland's Minister of Science and Culture Hanna Kosonen, a former ski-­orienteering athlete, is expected to attend the expo, Syrjala said.

Chinese national winter sports teams including ice hockey and cross-country skiing started training in Finland after 2015 when Beijing won the bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

"The cooperation and theme year were strongly inspired by the upcoming Olympic Games, Syrjala said. "We also provide know-how and coaching both here in China and in Finland for Chinese athletes"

The expo has become one of the major events held annually in the Chinese capital to boost winter sports popularity.

China has vowed to have 300 million Chinese take up winter sports by 2022 when Beijing becomes the first city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics.