(Yicai) Oct. 31 -- Iceland and China can cooperate seamlessly on addressing global climate change challenges due to the former's innovative spirit and the latter's scalability, according to the president of the European nation.

"I like the fact that a small country and a big country have decided to come together at a time where some think they don't need to work on climate change, and are going to work together with the goal to offer the world solutions, which Iceland can do well, but at scale with China can do well," Halla Tómasdóttir said in an exclusive interview with Yicai during a recent visit to the Asian country.

Tomasdottir was in China to attend the Global Leaders' Meeting on Women in Beijing and the Sustainability Global Leaders Conference in Shanghai earlier this month. China and Iceland penned a joint statement on further strengthening geothermal energy and green transition ties.

"It is a signal that we are going to work together to reach our carbon neutrality goal," Tomasdottir noted. "Iceland has decided to get there by 2040. China has a goal to get there by 2060, but I know from experience China usually over-delivers, so you will get there by 2050, which is what the world needs, especially if we can help you with geothermal energy."

The Icelandic people are very innovative and creative, especially in green technologies and sustainability, Tomasdottir pointed out. "We started the geothermal transition in the 1970s when very few others were looking at geothermal as a source.

"We have similarly been ahead of many others in sustainable fishing and food production," she said. "Our pension funds have been investing in line with environmental, social, and governance principles.

"We are very innovative, but we're very small, while Chinese people and companies are incredibly good at executing and taking things to scale," Tomasdottir pointed out.

China and Iceland have been working together for decades on geothermal energy, Tomasdottir said. For example, there's a joint venture between a unit of state-owned energy giant China Petroleum and Chemical, also known as Sinopec, and Icelandic renewable energy firm Arctic Green Energy that provides geothermal heating, cooling, and energy to millions of people in over 70 locations in China, she added.

"But a few million in China is only a very little scale because China is a big country," according to Tomasdottir, stressing the importance of the joint statement committing to work harder on this.

Deepening Trade and Tourism Ties

Iceland was the first European country to sign free trade and currency swap agreements with China that have been effective for over a decade. In addition, China has been the fourth largest trade partner of Iceland, and the largest in Asia.

More than 75,000 Chinese tourists visited Iceland in the first eight months of this year, with their numbers expected to reach a new record by the end of the year, according to official data.

"I am very glad that the Chinese have discovered how exciting it is to visit Iceland, and right now the Chinese tourist population is the largest of all of our visitors," Tomasdottir noted. "75,000 may sound like a lot, but it is a very small part of the existing Chinese market, so we have a very large opportunity ahead of us."

Tomasdottir noted that during her visit to China, she spoke several times about the impact direct flights between China and Iceland could have on supporting trade and tourism.

"There are opportunities to further build on our people-to-people connections because that's how we build trade, that's how we develop ideas, by understanding each other, by knowing each other," she said. "A direct flight might help us in addition to working together on geothermal, green solutions, and gender equality."

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev