Finnish Companies To Become Strategic Partners Of Khabarovsk Territory In Industrial Timber Production

An agreement on deepening cooperation between the Finnish companies, incorporated in the Finn-Khabarovsk association, and enterprises of the Khabarovsk Territory was reached during the visit to Finland by a delegation of the Khabarovsk Territory (Russian Far East) headed by governor Viktor Ishayev. The governor told RIA Novosti that interest in cooperation with the Finns is explained by the fact that the Khabarovsk Territory is rich in timber and Finns are leaders in the production of highly efficient timber cutting and processing equipment. The development of contacts began with the signing, on November 17, 2000, of a Memorandum of Cooperation between the administration of the Khabarovsk Territory and the ministry of industry and trade of Finland. The deliveries of the timber cutting equipment to the Khabarovsk Territory began, contracts have been signed for the supply of machinery for the production of dry sawn timber, and draft business plans prepared for the construction of two enterprises for the production of sawn timber with a capacity of 85,000 cubic metres a year each. Ishayev pointed out that as a result of negotiations which ended on Tuesday, the sides went over to a new level of cooperation. It is planned to jointly modernise the Territory's industrial timber complex, and to build a pulp-and-paper integrated works. Conditions will be created for producing goods of a world standard and raising their compatibility. In addition the economic situation in the markets of the Asia-Pacific region will be studied. Ishayev believes that the raw materials reserves of the Khabarovsk Territory, the Finnish technology and the Asia-Pacific markets are the components which should help participants in cooperation to reach a new level of the integration process.