"What a beautiful jasmine flower…" outstanding performance of the Chinese folk song Jasmine Flower and the Finnish national song Finlandia-hymni by Finnish singer-songwriter and pop kantele player Ida Elina received a big round of applause.

Finnish player performs Jasmine Flower.

On September 22, the opening ceremony of the 2021 Beijing Design Week was held at the Beijing Institute of Future Design in Zhangjiawan Design Town. Beijing's sister city Helsinki was this year's Guest City for Beijing Design Week.

Finland's Deputy Head of Missions Soile Kauranen delivered a speech.

Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen delivered a video speech at the opening ceremony. Finland's Deputy Head of Missions Soile Kauranen said, "the friendship between Beijing and Helsinki has gone through 15 years since the two cities signed the sister-city agreement. Through this form of cooperation (of being the Guest City), we are expecting that China and Finland can become closer, conduct more dialogues, and create more opportunities for business cooperation."

Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen delivered a video speech.

Helsinki, also known as the "Daughter of the Baltic Sea", is the capital and the largest port of Finland. It is the political, economic, and cultural center and the transportation hub of the country. The official communication between Beijing and Helsinki began in 1991 and the two cities formally became sister cities in July 2006. Over the years, the two cities have carried out fruitful exchanges and cooperation, and signed memorandums of cooperation in the fields including culture, education, design, economy and trade, and science and technology. The achievements have brought benefits to the people of both cities and played an active role in promoting a new future-oriented partnership between China and Finland.

Helsinki's Chinese New Year event has been held for 15 consecutive years.

Aalto University and Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology jointly hold a fashion show in Beijing

This year marks the 15th year anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Beijing and Helsinki. The two cities jointly held the Beijing-Helsinki 15th Anniversary series activities under the theme of "Sister-city Collaboration for Green Development." Chen Jining, Mayor of Beijing, and Juhana Vartiainen, Mayor of Helsinki, sent congratulatory letters to each other to officially initiate the activities.

Mayor Chen stated in the congratulatory letter that "we would like to take this opportunity to further explore the possibilities of cooperation between the two cities in the fields such as technological innovation, optimization of the business environment, carbon emission reduction and carbon neutrality, and creative design, take the friendship between the two cities to the next level, and contribute to the continuous development of the friendly relations between China and Finland as the capitals of our respective countries."

Mayor Vartiainen said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that in the past 15 years Helsinki and Beijing have gone through an "exciting journey" and have carried out fruitful cooperation in many fields such as culture, education, tourism, commerce, and design. "As the capital of Finland, Helsinki is very happy to establish a sister city relationship with Beijing."

Helsinki Exhibition Hall in the Beijing Design Week, Recipes for the Happy Helsinki Home

During the Beijing Design Week, Helsinki held a program titled Designing Better Life that presented sustainable and smart solutions to education and urban development.

Mr. Vartiainen also said that the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games were the first Olympics that the People's Republic of China participated in and 2022 would be the 70th anniversary. Finland sincerely wishes the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics smooth preparations. "Helsinki and Finland look forward to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics."