'Immense potential for India-Finland ties': Finland envoy Kimmo Lahdevirta

New Delhi: As next year marks the 75th year of the diplomatic relationship between India and Finland, Ambassador of Finland to India Kimmo Lahdevirta, on Friday emphasized that the ongoing free trade negotiations would produce beneficial results for both the countries, noting that the European Union is an important trading partner of India.

"European Union is a very important trading partner of India and that's why I think it's very important that the free trade negotiations which are now ongoing would produce results that would be beneficial for both parties," the Indian envoy said.

He further shared his delight, saying that over the decades, both nations have seen a significant deepening of the relationship in different sectors, including trade, technology, education and culture.

While explaining the India-Finland relationship in terms of tourism, he said, "People-to-people contacts...are very important and tourism...also, we have direct flights between Helsinki and India by Finner which of course facilitate these exchanges very much."

He further expressed hope towards the growing relationship between the two countries in technologies.

"I would say that looking ahead we really see immense potential for the development of relationships especially in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G, 6G, new green technologies, energy solutions, biofuels and other research and product development to combat which is linked to sustainable development are something of significance," Lahdevirta said.

Moreover, ahead of the 75th year of diplomatic relations between India and Finland, he said, "We are very much looking forward to the 75th year of diplomatic relations between our countries next year."

In an exclusive interview with ANI, Lahdevirta further highlighted that some of the Finnish start-ups are looking for partners in India and noted that Indian companies are also active in Finland.

"Large Finnish companies such as Fortum Corp, Lindstrom, Nokia, Valmit and Bertilla have already established large operations here in India. Also, Indian companies like Tata Mahindra, Infosys, TCS, Motherson Group...have made significant investments in Finland as well. But in addition to that, we also have quite a few start-up companies nowadays, Finnish startups who are looking for partners here in India and also Indian companies active in Finland, for example in the IT, auto components and hospitality sectors," he added.

Moreover, he stressed that this bilateral relationship is the key behind these developments.
In addition to the bilateral relationship and the EU being a partner, Lahdevirta also emphasized that Finland also sees value in creating partnerships between the Nordic region, the Baltic region and India.

"In that respect, we have a Baltic India business conclave coming up in November where we also hope to get ministerial-level representation and business delegation. So I think really looking ahead, we are excited about the prospects and we really are working closely with all the partners here in India," he added. (ANI)