Minister Väyrynen: Finland seeks fast and permanent solution for wood tariff dispute
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen of Finland and Minister for Economic Development and Trade Elvira Nabiullina of Russia met in Helsinki on Thursday, 15 of November. The meeting was part of the Finnish–Russian Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation, the main theme of the discussions being the wood tariffs.
Minister Nabiullina regarded the open atmosphere of the negotiations as productive. "The goal is to find a solution that benefits both parties", she said.
Minister Väyrynen stressed that the actual negotiations concerning wood tariffs will take place between the European Commission and Russia. Yet the Finnish-Russian cooperation is a condition for finding a solution. According to Väyrynen, Finland is seeking for a fast and permanent solution. He would not, however, announce a schedule at this stage. The wood tariffs will be discussed again when Prime Minister Vanhanen is meeting with the Russian Prime Minister in Moscow on 27 November.
The ministers also talked about aspects relating to cooperation in the transport sector. Väyrynen mentioned that in the future, the aim is to perform border and customs formalities in fast train connections between Finland and Russia in moving trains. "We also aim to cut down the truck jams on the Eastern border", said Minister Väyrynen.
Heavy traffic has doubled in the last five years. Since the beginning of the year, it has increased by 15 percent, and over a million trucks have crossed the Finnish-Russian border by the end of the year.
Minister Nabiullina stressed that the task of the Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation is to act in a way that helps the Finnish companies to operate in Russia and the Russian companies to operate in Finland. She marketed Russia as a good investment target for the Finnish investors in a seminar organised by Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, earlier on Thursday.
Russia is the third largest export country and the second largest import country to Finland. The sales turnover was approximately 14 billion euros last year of which exports accounted for 6 billion and imports for 8 billion euros. During the first and the second quarter, trade has continued to grow - exports by six and imports by two per cent.
According to the estimates of the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, the Finns have made investments in Russia for worth over two billion euros.