Minister Vilén and business delegation seek export prospects in China

Foreign Trade Minister Jari Vilén will lead an export promotion delegation to China and Hong Kong on 13-24 September. The delegation includes representatives from 55 Finnish companies. The SME sector has a strong representation in the delegation. “About thirty SME’s will be represented and nearly half of the companies in the delegation are located outside the Helsinki region. We particularly look for export potential for the smaller companies”, says Minister Vilén, who has done similar tours in Latin America and Thailand and the Philippines.

The delegation is the biggest-ever business delegation led by a Finnish minister and demonstrates the business confidence in the Chinese market. China’s economic growth has been phenomenal during the recent years and a growth of 5-8 percent is predicted for this year.

The visit will focus on four key sectors: healthcare,medical and food industries, energy and the environment sector, building and construction industries and forestry. The leader of the business delegation is Tapani Järvinen, Executive Vice President of Outokumpu. The delegation will visit Beijing, Dalian, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Later this year a business delegation with ITC sector participants will visit China with Kimmo Sasi, Minister of Transport and Communications.

During the visit of Minister Vilén’s delegation, a Finnish factory by Savcor manufacturing mobile phone components will be inaugurated. There are approximately 60 Finnish factories established in China where South Koreans and Japanese have recently transferred their production facilities. The value of Finnish investments in China is about three billion euros. The Finnish-Chinese trade balance is slightly in surplus as Finnish export to China is about 1,2 billion and import about 1,1 billion euros.