Finland will return two giant pandas to China in November, eight years earlier than the two countries had agreed, because the zoo where they are currently housed can no longer afford to care for them, its board chairman said in Reuters agency.

Everything Lumi and Piri arrived in Finland in January 2018, a few months after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the country.

At the time, Helsinki and Beijing had signed a joint agreement on animal protection.

Since 1949, China has sent animals to foreign zoos as part of its “panda diplomacy” to strengthen its trade ties and improve its image in the outside world.

There was an agreement with Finland to loan the pandas for 15 years, but instead, the animals will now be quarantined for a month before they start the journey back to China, Ahtari Zoo said.

The Zoo, which is a private company, invested more than 8 million euros in the facilities where everything is housed. Their annual maintenance costs reached 1.5 million euros, according to Risto Sivonen, the chairman of the board of directors.

Officials hoped everything would attract visitors, but instead they reported last year that they had piled up debt after the pandemic curtailed travel and travel. High inflation also increased costs and the government rejected the request for government funding.

Negotiations for the return of the animals lasted three years. “Now, we have reached the point where the Chinese say it can be doneSivonen said.

The return of the pandas was a business decision made by the zoo, without the involvement of the Finnish government, and is not expected to affect relations between the two countries, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

China’s embassy in Helsinki did not respond to a request for comment.