Foreign Trade Minister Vilén invited Tsurunen to serve as Finnish export ambassador in Japan
Foreign Trade Minister Vilén spoke at a seminar called “Finland in Japanese trade” on 29 July in Lahti. Japanese ambassador Norimasa Hasegawa and the Finnish-born member of the House of Councillors in Japan, Marutei Tsurunen, were also speakers at the seminar.
Minister Vilén spoke about the future prospects of Finnish and Japanese trade. He pointed out the fact that the trade does not only concentrate on information and telecommunications sector: Japanese components comprise a substantial part of the Finnish high-technology products, but in Finnish export to Japan the metal as well as the paper and wood industries play a considerably higher role than the electronics industry. This originates partly from the fact that a significant part of the Finnish electronics sold in Asia are also manufactured there.
A new opening for export on the Japanese market is the “welfare cluster”, i.e. the export of elderly care and social sector know-how and equipment. Vilén mentioned a unique care and service house project with the latest of information technology started last spring in the town of Sendai. “The potential for this kind of cooperation is enormous in Japan, where the population is aging rapidly, but were the average life expectancy is high”, he said.
Other new important export sectors are environmental and biotechnology and even functional foods. Vilén stated that despite the demanding Japanese market, successful Finnish products have potential to do well on the huge Japanese market if the products are marketed right and priced competitively.
Minister Vilén invited Senator Tsurunen to act as Finland’s export ambassador to Japan. Tsurunen’s knowledge of both Finnish and Japanese societies and their culture is a unique asset in Finnish export endeavours in Japan, said Minister Vilén. Tsurunen accepted the post as Finland’s export ambassador to Japan. Minister Vilén has proposed that Finns who have excelled in various fields of culture, sports or economy worldwide would be invited to serve as unofficial export ambassadors who would communicate the success stories of Finnish companies and their products around the world.