China is ready to take a more active and pragmatic approach in the new century to work with Finland for sound and steady growth in bilateral friendship and cooperation, said Hu.

Hu welcomed Halonen and extended his congratulations on her receiving an honorary doctorate degree from the Chinese Academy of Forestry.

He said Finland was one of the first Western countries to establish diplomatic ties with New China and bilateral relations have progressed steadily in the 52 years since.

In addition, he highlighted the constant contacts between leaders of both countries in recent years, their wide-ranging productive bilateral cooperation and their identical or similar views on major international issues.

Halonen said Finland-China relations have progressed smoothly in the past decade with fruitful cooperation in new- and high-tech fields, information, forestry and environmental protection.

She said she felt honoured to receive the degree from the Chinese Academy of Forestry yesterday morning.

Hailing China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Halonen said she hoped to see China playing a positive role in international trade.

Both Li and Zhu said that the bilateral relations - founded on a good political basis - had enormous potential.

When meeting with some Finnish business people, Zhu congratulated the entrepreneurs on their success in China in recent years and noted that China would faithfully implement its WTO commitments, and protect intellectual property rights and foreign business' rights and interests in the country.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2002)