Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo visits the Palace Museum in Beijing on January 27, 2026. Screenshot from Orpo's Instagram post

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo commenced what he described as "interesting days ahead" in Beijing on Monday, with the itinerary featuring both in-depth engagement between Chinese and Finish business representatives and officials, as well as a visit to the Palace Museum, a symbol of China's rich and enduring historical legacy.

Orpo arrived in Beijing on Sunday for a four-day official visit to China, along with executives from more than 20 Finnish companies. 

On Monday, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Finland's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment jointly hosted the 6th China-Finland Committee for Innovative Business Cooperation Meeting in Beijing. Orpo and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao attended the closing ceremony and delivered speeches.

More than 120 representatives from the business communities of the two countries participated in the meeting. After the meeting, Orpo and Wang held a roundtable discussion with representatives of the Finnish business community.

Orpo said that Finland-China relations have a long history, with frequent high-level exchanges and sound economic and trade cooperation. China is an important trading partner and export market for Finland, and Finnish companies attach great importance to the vast potential of the Chinese market, according to a release from MOFCOM.

Orpo noted that the two countries share a strong willingness to cooperate in areas such as green and low-carbon development, the circular economy, and industrial digitalization, and he expressed hope that enterprises on both sides would translate the outcomes of exchanges into concrete cooperation projects.

Wang said that under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, China-Finland economic and trade cooperation has yielded fruitful results, led by tech innovation and "green" cooperation setting an example of open cooperation and mutual benefit, according to the MOFCOM release.

This year marks the first year of China's 15th Five Year Plan. Wang said that China will continue to pursue high quality development and steadfastly expand high level opening-up, welcoming Chinese and Finnish enterprises to strengthen confidence, seize opportunities, and further expand cooperation in trade, investment, innovation and other areas.
 Speaking with the Global Times at the event on Monday, Marko Tiesmäki, Minister Counsellor, and Head of Business and Trade Promotion, of the Embassy of Finland in Beijing, said that the two countries are highly complementary, particularly in innovation and manufacturing.

"Finland is a very innovative country and China is renowned for its ability to scale up commercialization and innovation. So, putting these together, I think it's a really excellent match," Tiesmäki said.

Chinese and Finnish government officials hold talks at the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing on January 26, 2026. Photo: Yin Yeping/GT

Stefan Sundman, Vice President, Public Affairs of UPM-Kymmene Corporation, told the Global Times on Monday that China is a major market for UPM and the country's economic development of China is highly relevant for the company. As this year marks the first year of China's 15th Five Year Plan (2026-30), which advocates new quality productive forces, Sundman said that he understands that the next five-year period will show the direction being taken by the economy, which is relevant to businesses.

"I believe Finnish companies are optimistic about China primarily because China has long upheld multilateralism and economic globalization, which closely aligns with the views of Finnish companies and the Finnish government... At the same time, Finland's strengths in industries such as forestry and machinery provide a solid foundation for innovation cooperation with China, creating conditions for deeper industrial collaboration," Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Monday.

Against the backdrop of rising global protectionism, China's commitment to further opening up, a stable policy environment, and a well-developed supply chain helps Finnish companies manage external uncertainties and creates more favorable and predictable conditions for the sustained development of China-Finland and even China-Europe economic and trade ties, Zhou said.

Economically, China has been Finland's largest trading partner in Asia for many consecutive years, and Finland is China's third-largest trading partner in Northern Europe. In people-to-people and cultural exchanges, Finnair launched the first direct flight from the capital of a Western country to the capital of China in 1988, and the number of Chinese students studying in Finland exceeded that of Russian students in 2015, making Chinese students the largest group of international students in Finland, according to media reports. 

Following the meeting with Wang, Orpo visited the Palace Museum in Beijing. In an Instagram post, Orpo expressed his excitement, saying that he is now in the Palace Museum, in the middle of a busy work visit. He said that this has been "an amazing experience: a great guide, a guided tour, and seeing how this hundreds of years-old historical site is in the middle of this enormous city filled with skyscrapers, which is incredible." 

The Finnish prime minister's latest updates from his visit to China have drawn close attention from Finnish media. Yle, Finland's public broadcaster, reported on Orpo's meeting with Wang on Monday morning, outlining the discussions. MTV Uutiset, one of Finland's major mainstream news outlets, published a photo showing the prime minister taking a walk at China's Palace Museum on Monday afternoon.