On January 8, Vice Minister of Water Resources Tian Xuebin met with Ms. Jaana Husu-Kallio, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland and exchanged views on deepening bilateral practical cooperation. Finnish ambassador to China Jarno Syrj？l？ attended the meeting.

　　Vice Minister Tian expressed his gratitude to the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Finnish Embassy for the contribution to the Sino-Finnish water cooperation. Thanks to the cooperative activities of personnel exchange, workshops and project implementation, it has greatly promoted knowledge sharing and enhancement of water management levels. He pointed out that China is confronted with not only conventional water problems such as flood and drought, but also emerging challenges such as water scarcity, ecology degradation and water environment pollution. The water management guidelines of "prioritizing water conservation, balancing spatial distribution, taking systematic approaches and giving full play to the roles of both government and market" proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping has been implemented  by the Ministry of Water Resources to optimize water governance. Under the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding and the China-EU Water Platform, China is willing to deepen and expand the scope of cooperation and exchange with Finland, in the spheres of smart water technology, recycled water use, ecological restoration, and particularly climate change adaptation to boost scientific research and development and business cooperation of the two countries.

　　Ms. Jaana Husu-Kallio said that the cooperation between China and Finland is practical and fruitful, which has enabled a series of exchange and cooperation activities through the China-EU Water Platform. Finland will assume the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of this year that should further promote water cooperation with China and support relevant activities under the China-EU Water Platform. Safeguarding water security and implementation of 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and sustainable development goals have become a common vision of the world, said the Permanent Secretary. China and Finland should further strengthen cooperation and share experiences with the rest of the world, and make joint efforts to address challenges under the impact of global climate change.

　　The two sides also exchanged views on multilateral and bilateral cooperation activities in the next phase. Leaders of some MWR departments, bureaus and directly affiliated institutions were also present at the meeting.