Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka and Ambassador Pekka Voutilainen at a press conference.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka said that her country is very keen to have long-term partnerships with the Saudis in the sectors of education, health and clean-tech.

The minister arrived here Monday, leading a high-level business delegation representing these sectors, on a three-day visit. She and her delegation left today, after meeting a number of top Saudi officials which included Minister of Health Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfeeq Al-Rabeeah, and President of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy Dr. Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani.

“Saudi Arabia is the biggest economy in the Middle East that has committed to diversifying its economy and strengthening its role in the world economy. We came here to see how we can contribute to this as we have successfully gone through economic diversification,” she said, addressing a press conference at the Finnish Embassy.

“We want to strengthen the long-term commercial partnership with Saudis and find new ways to further promote two-way trade between our two friendly countries, instead of just buying and selling goods or services,” she added.

The minister also noted that part of her visit was to attract Saudi investments to her country which enjoys stability, skilled manpower and minimum bureaucracy.

Commenting on minister’s statement on the interest in attracting Saudi investors to her country, Ambassador of Finland to Riyadh Pekka Voutilainen said that Finland has one of the quickest and simplest procedures for establishing business in the world.

“So, I deferentially cite the New Yorker [magazine] as saying that if anyone can make it (in business) in New York, he can make it anywhere; I would say that if anyone can’t make in Finland, despite our facilities, he just won’t be able to do it anywhere else,” he said.

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