BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Finland Foreign Minister Timo Soini will pay an official visit to China from Feb. 26 to March 1, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang announced Wednesday.

Geng said that China expects the upcoming visit to improve bilateral ties, as the two sides working to build a new partnership.

Hailing the sound development of bilateral ties, Geng said that the two sides had witnessed close high-level exchanges, and cooperation in areas such as the economy, trade, environment protection, innovation, and the Arctic research had all progressed.