Minister of Economic Affairs Lintilä to visit Brazil and Argentina
Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä will head a Team Finland visit to São Paulo, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and to Buenos Aires in Argentina on 30 October – 3 November 2017. The business delegation to accompany the visit consists mainly of companies in the education and telecommunications technology sectors. The aims of the visit are to promote Finnish exports, further develop existing cooperation and open the way for new partnerships.
During the visit, Minister of Economic Affairs Lintilä will meet various ministers of the Brazilian and Argentinian Governments. Meetings are also to be held with a variety of key players in the education and telecommunications technology sectors in Brazil and Argentina for the purpose of promoting Finnish exports and bilateral cooperation with Finland.
Brazil is Finland's biggest trading partner in Latin America. Finland’s exports to Brazil amount to approximately EUR 1 billion annually. Operating in Brazil are subsidiaries of 54 Finnish companies, with a combined turnover of about EUR 1.6 billion.
São Paulo is the most important economic hub in Brazil and in the entire South American continent. In September, a Finnish consulate was opened in the city. The Minister of Economic Affairs and the business delegation will attend the official inauguration ceremony for the new consulate.
Finland’s key interests in Brazil include furthering educational and scientific cooperation and education sector exports. There is a strong basis for this, as Finland’s education system has a good reputation and Brazil is investing in further developing its own education system. This is creating export opportunities for companies and other players in Finland’s education sector. Brazil intends to increase the number of students in higher education from about 8 million to 15 million by 2022.
Argentina also offers considerable opportunities for Finnish companies. The present Argentinian Government is pursuing a more open trade policy and is seeking to systematically reduce barriers to trade. The country's economy has already begun to grow, and this trend is expected to continue in the next few years. In 2016, trade between Finland and Argentina grew by 82 per cent from the previous year. The total value of this trade was approximately EUR 234 million. In the first six months of 2017, both imports and exports have continued to grow strongly.
New opportunities for Finnish companies have been opening up especially in the telecommunications technology and energy sectors and in infrastructure construction. There are also excellent opportunities for education sector exports.
Companies and other delegation participants: Bittium, Cloudstreet Oy, Exomi LLC, Finnvera Plc, Nokia, Synopsys Finland Ltd, Tecnotree Corp, Aalto University Executive Education Ltd, Claned, Finhow Ltd, Not a Bad Idea/University of Turku, seppo, Soprano Plc - MIF and Tieturi, Tampere University of Applied Sciences and Wärtsilä.
Inquiries:
Jannika Ranta, Special Adviser to the Minister of Economic Affairs, tel. +358 50 340 2250
Akseli Koskela, Adviser to the Minister of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. + 358 46 923 2584