On 1 November, Finnish news media the GBtimes and the Daily Finland published a signed article by Ambassador Chen Li entitled "The First China International Import Expo: The Opening Market Opportunity for a Better Future". The full text is as follows:

2018年11月1日，驻芬兰大使陈立在芬兰《环球时代》、《芬兰日报》等当地媒体发表了题为《把握开放机遇，共期美好未来——欢迎芬兰参加首届中国国际进口博览会》署名文章，全文如下：

The Opening Market Opportunity for a Better Future

把握开放机遇，共期美好未来

Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that China will host China International Import Expo (CIIE) starting from 2018. The focus of CIIE is on import. It is an open platform for international economic cooperation, which is built by China for countries all over the world to display their products and services and carry out international trade. It represents China's principled stand on and solid resolve to economic globalization and trade liberalization.

去年，习近平主席在出席“一带一路”国际合作高峰论坛时宣布，中国将从2018年起举办中国国际进口博览会。进口博览会是中国为世界各国展示国家发展成就、开展国际贸易搭建的开放型合作平台，也是中国为世界各国探讨国际贸易和世界经济重大议题、完善全球经济治理提供的国际公共产品。它代表了中国支持经济全球化的原则立场和坚定决心。

The first CIIE will be held November 5th-10th, 2018, at the Shanghai National Convention and Exhibition Center. It has attracted more than 2800 companies from over 130 countries. Among them there are over 200 world top 500 companies or leading industrial players. Total exhibition space will cover 270,000 square meters. Over 150,000 Chinese and foreign professional buyers are expected to visit the Expo and enter business negotiation with exhibitors. Apart from the exhibition itself, there will be more than 100 related activities, including 3 parallel forums with the subjects on "Trade and Opening", "Trade and Innovation" and "Trade and Investment", to be held at the same time. 80 countries are invited to set up their Country Pavilions at the Expo, where they can project their national images by showing their best products, services and technologies.

首届中国国际进口博览会即将于11月5日在上海国家会展中心盛大开幕。预计本届博览会将有130多个国家的2800多家企业参展，200多家世界500强企业或行业龙头企业将参加展览，总展出面积达27万平方米，将有100多场配套活动，包括三个平行论坛，涉及“贸易与开放”、“贸易与创新”、“贸易与投资”等议题。80个国家应邀在博览会上设立了国家馆，以展示国家形象。

China welcomes all countries to board the train of its development either for a fast ride or for a free ride, and products and services with strengths, characteristics and competitiveness are welcome to enter China's vast market of 1.3 billion population. In the next five years, China is expected to import products and services worth more than 10 trillion dollars. The expo will provide unique opportunities for countries around the world to expand export into Chinese market. China will further open its market and we sincerely hope that CIIE will help promoting trade liberalization and trade facilitation, and contribute to a more vigorous, inclusive and sustainable global economic development.

中国欢迎世界各国搭乘中国经济发展的快车、便车，欢迎有优势、有特色、有竞争力的商品和服务进入中国13亿人口的大市场。未来五年，中国将进口超过10万亿美元的商品和服务。进口博览会将为世界各国对华出口提供新的机遇，并将成为各国互相之间开展国际贸易、分享合作商机的重要平台。中国愿意主动向世界开放市场，愿意通过博览会，不断提高贸易自由化便利化水平，与世界各国共同做大全球贸易蛋糕，发挥经贸合作对“一带一路”建设的先导作用，发挥国际贸易对世界经济增长的引擎作用，为建设更有活力、更加包容、更可持续的经济全球化作出积极贡献。

Finland is one of China's important trading partners among European countries. According to Finnish customs statistics, the trade volume between China and Finland in 2017 was 7.95 billion euros, which is one of the best records in the trade history between China and Finland. China is Finland's fourth largest trading partner in the world and has been Finland's largest trading partner in Asia for 15 consecutive years. We believe that the two countries will share a promising future in the field of economic and trade cooperation.

芬兰是中国在北欧重要的贸易伙伴之一。根据芬兰海关统计，2017年中芬贸易额为79.52亿欧元，是自2008年爆发全球金融危机以来中芬贸易的最好成绩。中国是芬兰全球第四大贸易伙伴，并已连续15年成为芬兰在亚洲的最大贸易伙伴。应该说，中芬两国在经贸领域未来尤可期。

We are very delighted to see that Finland is actively participating the first CIIE, and the very first exhibit of the Expo is a biofuel car from Finland. As one of the invited countries, Finland will have its own Country Pavilion for trade and investment in the Expo. Minister for Foreign Trade and Development of Finland, Ms. Anne-Mari Virolainen will lead the Finnish official and business delegation to Shanghai to participate the Expo and to attend the 3rd meeting of China-Finland Committee for Innovative Enterprise Cooperation on November 8th. We have learned that the Finnish Country Pavilion covers four themes including forest industry, clean technology, marine transportation and energy industry. Finnish leading companies including Nokia, Finnair, UPM and Valio are among the exhibitors in the Finnish Country Pavilion. In terms of Enterprise and Business Exhibition, 8 Finnish companies including Nokia, Valio and Halti will set up their own booths in the exhibition areas of intelligent and high-end equipment,food and agricultural products, clothing and consumer goods, medical apparatus and instruments, with a total exhibition area of 308 square meters.

我们很高兴地看到，芬兰也积极参与到了本届进口博览会中，与中国一道，用实际行动支持经济全球化和贸易便利化。本届进口博览会的首件入关展品就是来自芬兰的生物能源汽车。作为进口博览会国家展受邀国之一，芬兰外贸与发展部维罗莱宁部长届时将率政府团和商务团亲赴上海参加博览会。芬兰国家展将设森林产业、清洁技术、海洋运输和能源工业四大主题。国家展参展企业包括诺基亚、芬兰航空、UPM、Valio等芬兰本土重要企业。企业展方面，芬兰诺基亚、Valio、Halti等8家企业即将在智能及高端装备、食品及农产品、服装服饰及日用消费品等展区设置展台，参展总面积308平方米。

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. The reform and opening-up policy has profoundly changed China and led us into a new era of economic and social development. The slogan of the first CIIE is "New Era, Shared Future." We hope to work with other countries and international organizations to build China International Import Expo into a first-class expo in the world, open new channels for international trade and economic cooperation, facilitate the interconnected growth of global trade and world economy, and achieve mutual benefit and common prosperity under the framework of the "Belt and Road" initiative. I sincerely hope that the Expo will be held successfully and Finland can seize the opportunity to show itself to the world and to introduce high quality Finnish products and services to more professional buyers from China and the world.

今年是中国改革开放40周年，改革开放深刻地改变了中国，把我们引入了经济、社会快速发展的新时代。而进口博览会的口号是“新时代，共享未来”。我们希望将进口博览会打造成为国际一流的博览会，为各国开展贸易、加强合作开辟新渠道，促进全球贸易和世界经济联动增长，在“一带一路”倡议的框架之下，实现互利发展、共同繁荣。我衷心祝愿博览会能顺利举行，希望芬兰能利用好博览会这一平台，向世界展示芬兰形象，并将来自芬兰的优质产品和服务介绍给更多来自世界各地的专业采购商，收获丰硕成果。