During the export promotion trip of Minister Paavo Väyrynen, it was decided to organise a seminar that would explore cooperation in the forestry sector. The shipbuilding industry hopes for the development of joint production. Finnish companies see Russia a strategic opportunity, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen stated when opening the seminar to explore joint business cooperation in Archangelsk on 7 October.
“About 600 Finnish companies are established in Russia, and they haven’t withdrawn from the country along with the economic crisis,” he pointed out.
The Archangelsk Region covers an area about the size of France, extending from the White Sea to the Arctic Ocean. It also includes the Novaya Zemlya island. Archangelsk, the capital city of the region, is located more or less on the same latitude as Oulu.
According to Russian statistics, the value of the region’s trade with Finland totalled about 100 million euros last year. Finland exports machinery and equipment and imports timber, petroleum products and fish. This year the figure will fall because of the economic crisis and the slump in wood imports.
According to Väyrynen, there would be much cooperation development potential. For example, regional actors in Northern Finland have great interest in Archangelsk and already conduct cooperation there.
One of the most promising practical openings would be cooperation in the shipbuilding industry. Although Russia emphasises providing work for the country’s own shipbuilding industry, Finns have varied, decades long experience of joint production. One vessel alone would raise the volume of trade to a new level, Väyrynen stated. He stressed the importance of contracts between companies to spurring practical economic cooperation.
“We would like to have cooperation in Archangelsk,” Managing Director Martin Landtman of STX Finland told decision-makers in Archangelsk. The company has high technology that can be applied, for instance, in floating gas production plants, which will be needed when exploitation of the Shtokman gas field begins. Archangelsk is an important dockyard city with building of both naval and civilian vessels.
Ilya Mikhalchuk, Governor of Arkhangelsk Region, stressed the positive attitude his administration has towards investment. A regional law that came into force in summer frees foreign investors from regional and local level taxation for a few years following their investment.
The area is rich in natural resources from oil to diamonds, forests and the metals industry and a trained labour force. Despite its large area, only one per cent of Russia’s population lives there.
Of great concern is better utilisation of the region’s forest resources. Väyrynen promised that the topic will be studied in a seminar of experts. The Archangelsk participants suggested that Finland set up a consulate there. According to Väyrynen, this will not be considered in the present circumstances, but he left the door open in case ties between the region and Finland should become clearly more solid.
Fifteen leading Finnish companies and a delegation of civil servants participated in the export promotion and internationalisation trip to Archangelsk led by Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen on 6–8 October.
