The Hindu Business Line : `Indo-European round table to be forum for bilateral trade ties'

Conducive environment If India and the EU decide to negotiate a bilateral agreement, the message from Helsinki on bilateral trade would be positive Finland's trade with India was growing the fastest among its business partners

Chennai , Sept. 29

An Indo-European CEO round table, to be established in Helsinki at the EU India Business Summit in October, will bring out the expectations of industry on government policies to encourage trade, according to the Ambassador of Finland to India, Mr Asko Numminen.

In an interaction with The Hindu group of publications, he said the round table would be a forum for top-level business managers, chief executives and directors to discuss measures to promote business.

At the Government level, the summit is expected to adopt a statement on possible bilateral economic agreement between India and the EU.

If India and the EU decide to negotiate a bilateral agreement, which is being explored, the message from Helsinki on bilateral trade would be positive, Mr Numminen said.

India-Finland Trade

On the bilateral trade between India and Finland, he said that Finland's trade with India was growing the fastest among its business partners. After the traditional industries in engineering and manufacturing that have set up a presence in India, the new wave is in information and communication technology.

Two companies from Finland manufacturing mobile handsets have set up production facilities in India - first it was Elcoteq Network Corporation in Bangalore and then Nokia, which decided to start a manufacturing facility near Chennai. Now many of Nokia's suppliers would be investing here.

An India `Fin-o-mena'

"I would be surprised if the trend does not continue with increasing investments in future in various sectors," Mr Numminen said. This is due to the conducive business environment. "Finnish companies know that the environment to invest and do business here is positive," he said.

Interest in investing in India among the business community in Finland is high - it is now India-Finland, he said.

He said, "It is a kind of India fever" with interest generated in the industry, business and academic world for increased collaboration.

Increasing number of delegations are coming to India, cooperation with academic and research and development institutions are on the increase, volume of tourism traffic is increasing. An important step will be the start of direct flights - three flights a week - by Finnair between Helsinki and Delhi from October 31, he said.

There is an increased awareness of the new India - Finnish media is providing information on Indian development, he said.

Indian biz in Finland

But it is not all about Finland investing in India. Finnish Government agencies have selected India as a target to attract investments into Finland, he said.

Indian investments in Finland are focussed on information technology. With Indians acquiring Finnish technology companies, particularly small ones that are leaders in niche areas often related to mobile communication.

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