An online conference was held in Helsinki, Finland, a sister city of Beijing, on November 12, 2020, for city government organs and their staff of 38,000 people. Focusing on the theme "Is international cooperation still important?", the attendees had discussions on deepening Helsinki's foreign relations and international cooperation against the backdrop of COVID-19.   

Beijing is the only sister city of Helsinki. At the invitation of Mayor Jan Vapaavuori of Helsinki, Chen Jining, Mayor of Beijing, made a video in Chinese for the conference. In the video, Mayor Chen said that Beijing attached great importance to the sister-city ties with Helsinki. He hoped that the two cities would work together to deepen cooperation in all aspects for a new chapter of win-win cooperation. Helsinki thanked the Beijing side for its support to the conference, saying that the city would intensify cooperation with Beijing in different areas to set a good example of city development through cooperation between sister cities. 

Mayor Chen Jining said in the video that Beijing attached great importance to its sister-city ties with Helsinki.

Since Beijing and Helsinki became sister cities in July 2006, the two cities have seen smooth development of relations, with frequent high-level exchanges and fruitful results in areas such as economy and trade, science and technology and culture. A delegation led by Mayor Chen visited Helsinki in October 2019 and signed the Action Plan for Sister-City Cooperation Between Beijing Municipality and City of Helsinki (2019-2023) with Mayor Jan Vapaavuori of Helsinki.

Jan Vapaavuori, Mayor of Helsinki, and Jani Moliis, Head of International Affairs of Helsinki, are watching the video.