“Although this is my first time to Chengdu, I have felt its great momentum and potential of development,” said Mr. Rinne.

During his stay in the city, Mr. Rinne visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Nokia’s Chengdu R&D Center, and two project sites involving a commercial urban complex titled Yunduan in the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone and a science city to be built in the Tianfu New Area, which offer him an insight into the city’s growth in ecological improvement, industrial deployment and scientific research. He expressed a strong hope for a closer partnership with Chengdu.

In the Nokia’s Chengdu R&D Center, Mr. Rinne was briefed on the center’s development in the city and its new technical products. He said, “Nokia has made remarkable achievements in key communication technologies, and it has put more projects in the Chengdu center over recent years. I do believe there will be a good prospect for the cooperation between the company and Chengdu.”

Mr. Rinne spoke highly of the project Yunduan, which was co-designed by companies from Chengdu and Finland, and consists of high-end office buildings, hotels, apartments, a concert hall and a multi-functional theater. “It is a model of cooperation between China and Finland, which perfectly combines the Chinese side’s construction experience and Finnish side’s advantages of environmental protection technologies.”

After listening to an introduction to the planning of the Tianfu New Area project, Mr. Rinne showed a strong interest in the design of the Area and hoped that Finnish design companies could involve in it.

“I came to Chengdu because it is a typical city in China’s western regions, where the Finnish companies develop well and to which we attach great importance,” Mr. Rinne said.