India-Finland Business Forum
November 7, 2002, New Delhi

Welcome Address by Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI

H.E. MR. JARI VILEN, Minister for Foreign Trade of Finland
H E Mr Glen Lindholm, Ambassador of Finland to India
Dr R N Pandey, Director, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies & Gentlemen,

It is my privilege and pleasure to welcome the Hon’ble Minister and the distinguished members of the Finnish official and business delegation.

I am also pleased to welcome Dr R N Pandey, Director, DIPP, who will address this gathering on India as a destination for Finnish companies.

Your visit, Excellency, has given us a unique opportunity to understand and explore each others’ political, economic and cultural systems.

In this era of globalisation when the world is growing smaller, countries of different political and economic policies are coming closer and are developing better mutual understanding. Both India and Finland are a part of this globalisation process and are capitalising on each others’ areas of competitive advantage.

India is already present strongly with some of the leading global companies in need of excellence  in software production. On the other hand Finnish companies have achieved global recognition in the area of telecomunications and mobile technologies. There exists potentail for cooperation between India and Finland in these and other knowledge driven sectors.

India and Finland share close friendship and strong complimentarities in many sectors of economy. Our mutual requirements and capabilities can help us achieve much greater momentum in bilateral cooperation.

I would like to emphasise the importance of India as an attractive destination for investment. India offers a rare combination of relatively inexpensive and skilled manpower, abundant natural resources and fairly well developed infrastructure for business. All this makes India an ideal low cost manufacturing base - most important, India has a massive and  and an ever increasing domestic market which greatly enhances its business potential.

India has a lot to offer to Finland. Our innovations in the field of Information and Communications Technology, software development and outsourcing, biotechnology and health care are important  and of great value in Finland.

Today over 30 Finnish companies are established and actively operating in India. Nokia is already well known here. Wartsila, Kone Elevators, Storaenso and Fiskars, Thermo Projects, etc.  have grown rapidly and are well recognised. Other active players include Metso, Outokumpu, KCI, Kone cranes, Vaisala and many others.

Finnish consulting and software expertise, especially in wireless mobile communications is a good example of new innovative exports to India.

The sectors in which Finland industry could play a big role in the Indian economy are wireless mobile communications, energy & power generation, environmental technology, biotechnology and health care.

Indian industry can reap benefits by setting up a base in Finland, as it is one of the best performing economies in European Union. Success of  businesses is driven by global demand for electronics, especially inforamtion technology and mobile communications. Finland’s strength lies in the outstanding concentration of intellectual capital and more so because of the highly educated population and sophisticated infrastructure.

FICCI had initiated bilateral cooperation with Finland, with the establishment of the Joint Business Council in 1983. The relationship was later redefined and more focus was laid on cooperation in identified sectors which were considered important for both the countries.

FICCI has hosted interactive meetings from time to time in honour of visiting dignitaries from Finland. We had hosted H E Mr Ole Norrback, Minister for Foreign Trade of Finland in 1997. In  2001 we had organised an Interactive Session with Finpro on “Technologies for Better Environment Prospects for Indo-Finnish Cooperation” during the visit of Her Excellency Ms Satu Hassi, Hon’ble Minister for Environment and Development Aid of Finland.

FICCI has recently entered into institutional arrangements with (I) FINNFUND, Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Limited and (ii) Central Chamber of Commerce of Finland (KKK). These agreements were signed during the Third India-EU Summit in Copenhagen last month. These tie-ups should encourage bilateral trade and investment cooperation.

FICCI has played a pivotal role in strengthening India’s commercial relations with EU and its member States including Finland. We have made continuous efforts to facilitate interaction between both the bureaucrats and businesses of the two regions. The India-EU Business Summits have played an important role in this area.

We believe that today’s Business Forum would provide ample in-sight and opportunities to Indian and Finnish businesses for future cooperation.

The keynote address by the Hon’ble Minister should enlighten us more on the possibilities of India-Finland bilateral economic, trade and investment linkages.

Let me conclude by saying that let us all work in synergy and deepen our partnership.

Thank you.