Russian-Finnish Timber Conference: New Stage in Cooperation

As Paavo Lipponen, the Prime Minister of Finland, said today during a Russian-Finnish conference on cooperation in timber industry, 'A new stage of cooperation between Finland and Russia is beginning now'. Russia's Prime Minister Kasyanov replied to the effect that the weakest point in this cooperation was that Russian timber was imported to Finland, then came back as ready products. Russia's Prime Minister further said there was much remaining to be done to correct the situation. He pointed out that while the overall trade turnover between Russia and Finland was growing, having increased over the last year by $1.5 milliard to a total of $6 milliard, $7 milliard if services were included, timber came to just 10% of it. The parties decided to create a bilateral workgroup to monitor and control cooperation between the two countries.

The parties discussed investments in Russian timber industry, supplies and the joint development of relevant technologies.