Minister Skinnari and Texas Governor Abbott agree to pursue closer economic ties

Ville Skinnari, the Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, and Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas signed today a Statement of Mutual Cooperation aimed at deepening economic and research and innovation relations between Finland and the State of Texas. Minister Skinnari and Governor Abbott met today in connection with the minister’s trade promotion trip.

Minister Skinnari and Governor Abbott signing a Statement of Mutual Cooperation.
Photo: Pasi Rajala / Embassy of Finland in Washington, DC.

Finland and Texas endeavor to work together to help facilitate the expansion of businesses, encourage the creation of jobs, and promote innovation by collaboration and joint research in areas including, but not limited to:

  1. Connectivity and new and emerging technologies, such as 5G and 6G, as well as high-performance computing, including artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and cybersecurity;

  2. Aerospace and aviation endeavors;

  3. Digital transformation and end-user applications, including health, energy, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, and built environments;

  4. Energy security, reliability, and innovation, as well as smart grids and transportation solutions such as marine and electric vehicles; and

  5. Energy-efficient materials, including processes in the built environment or building technologies.

”United States is one of Finland’s most important economic partners, and Texas is one of the biggest economic areas in the United States. Finns already have a strong footing in the Texas market and now the F-35 program and new investments in research and development projects make the 30-million people state a very interesting partner for Finland”, says the development cooperation and trade minister Skinnari.

The first result of the state-level cooperation statement is a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Finnish CSC-IT Center for Science and Texas Advanced Computing Center that have joined forces to collaborate in promoting research cooperation between Finland and Texas, and foster global expertise in high-performance computing.

Over the past years, Finland has invested not only in good relations at the federal level, but also actively built partnerships at the state level. Texas is the most recent among a group of states with which Finland has partnered to focus its efforts in trade, investment, and talent exchange. Finland's state partnerships aim to support Finnish companies establishing themselves in the U.S. and American organizations entering Finland.

Statement of Mutual Cooperation between Finland and the State of Texas (PDF, 2 pages, 120 KB)

For more information, please contact: Pasi Rajala, Embassy of Finland in Washington, DC, pasi.rajala @ formin.fi