Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji said on December 21 that China and Finland complement each other in many fields and therefore the potential for bilateral cooperation is great.

Zhu made the remarks when meeting with visiting Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen of Finland, the rotating presidency of the EU, who arrived here this morning to attend the second China-EUSmmit meeting.

Zhu emphasized that as China is going to develop the vast and resource-filled western areas in the coming century, the central and local governments will need to increase investment to absorb more capital, technology and talent from home and abroad. Since Finland has "advantages" in these fields, Finnish enterprises are welcome to invest in those regions, he said.

The Premier expressed his satisfaction with the progress of bilateral ties, saying that bilateral exchange and cooperation in various fields have developed smoothly and steadily. The frequent contacts between leaders of both countries have helped increase mutual understanding, and promote common understanding and cooperation, he said.

"We are pleased to see that bilateral trade volume last year approached 1.6 billion US dollars, thus hitting ahead of time the goal of doubling the volume in three years," he said.

Zhu also stressed the importance of strengthening consultation and cooperation between the two countries under the present international situation.

Lipponen agreed with Zhu's comment on bilateral relations and the view that the two countries share broad prospects in trade and economic cooperation. He noted that bilateral cooperation has been successful.