Finland wants increased trade volume with Nigeria

Finland wants to exploit the friendly investment climate of Nigeria to boost its business, said Paavo Vannrynen, the Finnish minister of foreign trade and development.

Mr. Vannrynen led a team of 34 Finnish investors on a trade mission to Nigeria and visited Achike Udenwa, the minister of commerce and industry. Finland has a population of five million while Nigeria has over 150 million people.

Mr. Vannrynen said Nigeria has great potentials which have not been fully exploited, and that Finland is taking the advantage to increase the bilateral relations between the two countries.

“The main idea is to increase trade and what we can offer Nigeria is very high level technology which can help Nigeria to meet her 2020 goals,” said Mr. Vannrynen.

He hinted that investment could be rewarding and is possible here, saying that the infrastructural challenges are not strong enough to deter any investor with foresight, as the gain will be more than the losses.

Mr. Varynen disclosed that some Finnish companies are already in Nigeria lending a helping hand in addressing the power challenge. “There are problems but we have leading companies making diesel bio-fuel engines and these are here to assist.” He added that the investors are bringing hi-tech equipment in almost every sector of the economy, to help Nigeria realise Vision 2020.

Philip De la Vega, President of Nokia, West Africa Region, said there are plans for the Finnish company to increase its investment profile in Nigeria, and that they have plans to address the importation and sale of substandard Nokia handsets.

Nigeria plant

However, Mr. Udenwa, told the company that considering the number of Nigerians patronizing Nokia, it is only ideal for them to set up an assembling plant in Nigeria.

Mr. Udenwa also identified the various areas where Finland can invest, including renewable energy, agriculture and agro allied industries, telecommunication, tourism, finance, manufacturing, transport, fashion, and arts, among others.

He said, “We have a lot of areas that you can invest in. These include renewable energy, of which you are an expert. This is one of the areas Nigeria needs foreign investors to intervene.

“It is true we have had very long-standing and cordial bilateral relationship between ourselves, the same thing with the EU of which you are a member, however, in terms of trade we have not had a very good relation but we believe more could be done to improve on this.”

He regretted that while we have some imports from Finland especially in high tech and some agric products like cream, butter, unfortunately Nigeria’s export to Finland is almost zero.

“Nothing goes to Finland from Nigeria but a lot comes to Nigeria from Finland. That is why the visit is very crucial, as we believe we can work out things to the benefit of both countries. Finland is endowed with high tech while Nigeria has abundant natural resources, and development of strong synergy on these two products for the benefits of both countries. We also want to believe that this kind of delegation is powerful enough to look seriously into our business environment, and form partnerships with our local entrepreneurs to make much impact in our economy.”