Thaindian News

Chennai, Sep 20 (IANS) Finland’s Minister for Economic Affairs Jyri Hakamies will lead a 60 member delegation to India next month to concide with the inauguration of the Finnish Innovation Centre in New Delhi, the country’s envoy said Tuesday.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of a media event held by Finnish company Stera Engineering here, Finnish Ambassador to India Terhi Hakala said: “The members of the delegation would consist of businessmen, researchers, civil servants and others.”

She said the Finnish government wants to increase the bilateral trade between India and Finland that dropped to around 800 million euros from one billion euros due to the slowdown in Europe.

The Finnish government is paying more attention on the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as they are important to the nation’s economic growth, added Hakala.

Speaking about the Innovation Centre - Finland’s fifth in the world - Hakala said it would focus on healthcare, clean technologies, education and urbanisation.

She said there are around 100 Finnish companies in India and most of them are located in Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Pune.

“Around 20 Indian companies are in Finland,” Hakala added.

Earlier Jyri Kontio, managing director of Stera Engineering, said they are looking at India as a good market for their mechanical and electromechanical products.

“We will look at telecom, elevator, medical equipment and other segments for our products,” he said.

Operating in India for nearly a year, Stera Engineering inaugurated its new three million euros facility here Tuesday.

“The financial breakeven will happen in six months time. By 2015 we hope to achieve a turnover of 10 million euros,” Kontio said.