Minister Väyrynen in South Korea: Free Trade Agreement creates excellent conditions for deeper economic cooperation between Finland and South Korea

Press release 347/2010
23 November 2010

Key cooperation opportunities between Finland and South Korea have emerged in Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen's export promotion trip to Seoul, South Korea, in particular with regard to the EU-South Korean Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and cleantech. In a meeting with Minister for Trade of South Korea Kim Jong-hoon both Ministers stressed the benefits of the FTA to future cooperation.

"Finland expressed strong support for the Free Trade Agreement and its swift implementation. The FTA will only bring positive developments with the exemption from duty between the EU and South Korea and promotion of improved operational conditions for businesses," Väyrynen underlined.

According to Väyrynen, heavy investment in green growth and technology in South Korea will provide excellent cooperation opportunities also for Finnish cleantech businesses, and the FTA will further facilitate the process. Cooperation on cleantech was brought up in a meeting with the Chairman of the Green Growth Committee, Young Soo-gil. The Committee is appointed by the President of South Korea and co-chaired by the country's Prime Minister.

"South Korea wants to be the regional and global trend-setter for green growth. The committee's policies are, by and large, governed by the same principles that are promoted in Finland. However, as an interesting detail, some innovations of Finnish businesses have been found even too radical. I believe it is only a positive problem that shows how Finnish companies are at the cutting edge and many of them are global pioneers in their sector," Väyrynen said.

In Seoul, Minister Väyrynen also met with Governor of the Bank of Korea Kim Choong-soo. The key topics were economic situations in the two countries and remedies for coping with the economic slump.

Minister Väyrynen continues the export promotion trip to Japan on 24 November. The Minister is accompanied by a business delegation of 20 persons.

Further information: Päivi Nevala, Advisor to the Minister, tel. +358 40 753 4375