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Finland products and a Santa Claus park
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HANGZHOU will host a new Finland Pavilion to showcase the products and culture of the Nordic country and a Santa Claus park similar to a popular Arctic amusement park in Lapland.
An agreement was signed last week by the Finland-China Trade Platform of the Finnish region of Uusimaa and the Cross-Border Trade Town of Hangzhou.
Uusimaa is Finland’s most populous region, with 1.6 million people. Helsinki and the nation’s second-largest city Espoo are within its boundaries. Uusimaa contributes about 40 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.
“Even though Finland and China are different in many ways, the relationship of the two countries is very good and communication is open friendly,” said Ossi Savolainen, Uusimaa’s mayor.
The pavilion will display Finnish technology, food and handicraft products, which are noted for their natural materials and minimalist designs. Chinese consumers shopping online are expected to benefit. Until now, they have had to wait long periods to get foreign goods they purchase to be delivered. Now they will be able to purchase authentic Finnish products in the pavilion, saving time and money.
“The Finnish market is not very big because we have a small population, so we need to expand into the Chinese market,” Savolainen told Shanghai Daily. “The European market in important to us, of course, but China is our future.”
The Finland-China Trade Platform already has forged economic and cultural agreements with Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, and Baoding in Hebei Province.
“Cooperation involves trade, technology, culture and tourism,” said William Zhu, CEO of the platform. “Not along ago, we entered into an agreement with China Unicom that allows Unicom users access to Finnish tunes for their ringtones.”
The pavilion is expected to be completed by the end of the year. It will also offer tourist services to visitors, helping them arrange trips to Finland, and it will feature organic food and a sauna experience from the Nordic country.
“You have to experience Finnish nature yourself if you want to get close to the country,” said Juha Saarnio, chief operating officer of the platform. “Like drinking fresh, clean lake water, walking in forests and picking wild berries.”
Finland is the 25th country to erect a national pavilion in Hangzhou. Others include Canada, Australia and Italy. The pavilions all offer access to national products for sale.
It’s all part of Hangzhou’s expanding cross-border e-commerce, which helps the local economy.
In March 2015, the State Council, China’s cabinet, approved the creation of the Hangzhou cross-border e-commerce pilot zone. At the same year, the 2.6-square-kilometer Cross-border Trade Town was established in the city’s Xiacheng District.
Local authorities have established a system of information sharing, financial services, intelligence logistics, e-commerce credit, statistical monitoring and risk control to facilitate cross-border e-commerce.
The efficient system has attracted foreign countries and hundreds of e-commerce companies to set up operations here.
“The town has more than 280 cross-border companies and sales volume last year reached 3.72 billion yuan (US$546.9 million),” said Chen Weiqiang, Party secretary of Xiacheng District. “More than 50.8 million products were imported and exported in a year.”
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