Under-Secretary of State Anttonen leads a Team Finland visit to South Africa

Press release 192/2016
14 October 2016

Under-Secretary of State for External Economic Relations Matti Anttonen will lead a Team Finland trade mission to South Africa on 17-21 October.

The destinations of the visit will be Johannesburg, the economic hub of South Africa, Pretoria, the capital, and Cape Town. The Under-Secretary of State will be accompanied by a Finpro delegation.

The aim of the visit is to promote Finnish companies' business opportunities in South Africa by strengthening the position of the companies that already have established operations there and by advancing the creation of new cooperation relations. The sectors participating in the visit represent water and sanitation, renewable energy and the environment, consultancy and innovation services, and information technology.

South Africa is among Finland's most significant trading partners outside the OECD area and the biggest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa both in terms of export and import. In 2015, Finland's exports to South Africa totalled about EUR 279 million and imports about EUR 194 million. South Africa is planning to launch extensive energy and infrastructure projects in the next few years.

Inquiries: Jouko Leinonen, Director, tel. +358 50 575 8439 and Jan Koivu, Programme Officer, tel. +358 40 351 9829, Unit for Southern Africa.

The Foreign Ministry's email addresses are in the format [email protected].