by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Helsinki : Businessmen from Kazakhstan and Finland signed contracts worth more than $600 million, as part of the official visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to the northern European country.
“This is my second visit to the Republic of Finland over the period of our independence and our fourth high-level meeting with the President of the country,” said Nazarbayev following the talks.
“Our talks today focused on international policy, namely on our region and the situation in Europe where the Europe-Asia forum will be held tomorrow. We share a common view on this issue. Indeed, there are neither political nor economic problems between our countries,” he said.
“I have arrived here to give a new impulse to the economic relations between our counties. Yesterday, I met with captains of Finnish business and saw their interest in working with us. Tens of contracts worth over $600mn have been signed by our businessmen. We may cooperate in ore-mining industry, chemistry, engineering, agriculture and high technologies sectors,” he added.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Emerging Businesses, Investing, News, Politics
New Delhi : Cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, renewable energy and science and technology were among the issues that came up for discussion when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Finnish counterpart Timo Soini met here on Friday.
“The two Ministers held discussions on various aspects of bilateral ties as well as important regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
It said that the discussions between the two Ministers focused on building cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, vocational education, science and technology, renewable energy, culture and tourism.
India’s trade with Finland has crossed $1 billion and is in favour of the Nordic country. Finnish companies have invested $419 million in India between April 2000 and July 2017, while around 30 Indian companies have invested in Finland in IT, healthcare, hospitality and automotive sectors.
Soini also participated in the two-day Fifth Global Conference on Cyber Space that concluded here on Friday.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews
Nina Vaskunlahti
By Mudita Girotra,
New Delhi : The Make In India initiative to encourage national and multi-national companies manufacture their products in the country can play a role in boosting Finlands relations with India, the country’s Ambassador, Nina Vaskunlahti, has said.
“Indian politicians always tell us that they want to make in their country but can’t do it alone,” Vaskunlahti told IANS in an interview.
“India is open for collaborations, ideas, innovations — things that can be together,” she said.
“An Indian colleague recently proposed the idea of making it in the Finn-Indian way by putting together the best of the two nations together.”
She said a lot of cooperation, visits and interests can be seen on both sides and stressed that it is important that relationship between two countries is versatile and strong.
“That is what the case between India and Finland is…there is politics, economy, tourism, trade, and investments.
“Trade relations have grown across the years. Currently, the trade volume is around one billion Euros, which is not too bad. Last year, the trade grew by 17 per cent.:
Vaskunlahti noted that Indian firm Mahindra Holidays and Resorts has increased its stake in Finland-based Holiday Club Resorts by buying additional 6.33 per cent shares at a consideration of 4.37 million euros.
“There are roughly 100 Finnish companies active in India and there is increasing Indian interest in Finland and in investing in the Finnish economies.”
The RSS chief, on September 9 at the launch of the Indian Education Manual (Bhartiya Shiksha Granth Mala) by Ahmedabad-based think-tank Punarutthan Vidyapeeth, said there was a need to overhaul the existing Indian education system on the lines of Finland, which is similar to the ancient Indian gurukul system.
Vaskunlahti commented on this saying, “Finnish education system is based on Finnish ideas and legislation…strong parts of the Finnish education system were “the high-level education of teachers”.
“They have a great academic background and have lots of freedom in the way they teach.”
She said the system in her country lays stress on quality education from an early stage. “From kindergarten to primary school to secondary, the Finnish education system is free (of charge) for all,” she added.
“It is also based on an open access to information and to equality among people.”
Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia had visited Finland last year and said that India needed to learn a lot from the country’s education system, which is “the best in the world”.
Are there any plans to sign any agreements with India to develop its education system or otherwise?
“We don’t really believe in agreements. People are always boasting so and so many agreements were signed. You can sign but the proof is..if the agreement really brings something.
“Many educators from the (Indian) government and the profession are visiting Finnish insititutions…talking to their counterparts. We are organisimg different seminars and events to bring across what we are doing,” Vaskunlahti said.
“There are firms ready to export their ideas but education system as such cannot be exported. It is based on your own values. Nevertheless, we can always export the best practices and share our mannerisms.”
Cultural cooperation interactions are also going on between the two countries, she said. “When people get interested in each other’s cultures and countries, that’s when interactions start happening,” she explained.
“I think Finland is an inspiring country for Indian artists and photographers, the same way that India can be inspiring for Finns. I saw lots of Indian travellers, artists spending time there.”
The Embassy of Finland with Fortum India and Visit Finland ha brought to the capital a photo exhibition titled, The Northern Lights — spectacular solar flares that occur mainly during winter in Finland.
Vaskunlahti said the show, which ended on September 21 in Delhi was a novel platform to enhance cross cultural relationship between India and Finland. It will also move to Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.
“The exhibition opened interesting opportunity for the Indian audience to experience Finland through artistic photography,” she added.
As part of the celebrations of 100 years of Finland’s independence, the show brought photographs on the play of the sun rays and light.
“The pictures look surreal when you look at the colours but they are real…this is what the sky looks like in this phenomenon.”
(Mudita Girotra can be contacted at mudita.g@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate Jobs, Employment
Helsinki, (IANS) Microsoft said on Wednesday that it would lay off 1,350 people in Finland, as a result of its plan to streamline its smart phone hardware business.
“We will continue to innovate across devices and on our cloud services across all mobile platforms,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft, Xinhua news agency reported.
The redundancies in Finland were part of its overall plan to cut 1,850 jobs worldwide, and the company would record an impairment and restructuring charge of approximately $950 million, said the company in an announcement.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate Jobs, Employment
Helsinki, (IANS) Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia announced on Friday it would terminate over 1,000 jobs in Finland.
The company has carried out the Finnish style mandated talks with its staff. The reduction is to be carried out by 2018, Xinhua reported.
Nokia has 104,000 employees worldwide. Out of them some 7,000 are in Finland. Of the cutbacks now 500 will affect Espoo, the rest operations in Oulu and Tampere.
Nokia is adjusting its operations and staff worldwide following the takeover of Alcatel-Lucent. The company has a worldwide saving target of 900 million euros (about $1 billion) in annual costs in synergy.
