Finland wants to see Russia in WTO

Finland will back Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), Finnish Foreign Trade and Development Minister Paula Lehtomaki told a press conference here as this Russian city marked the grand opening of a new corrugated cardboard production facility.

She said Russian membership in the WTO would simplify trade and commercial relations between Finland and Russia, which are growing in any case. Lehtomaki declared that Finland is ready for exchanges of specialists between plants in the two countries and is especially interested in having Russian specialists live and work in Finland. She said demand for such specialists is strong.

The new corrugated cardboard facility is the result of an agreement signed in 2000 between Nizhegorod Region and Tamrest Oy, a subsidiary of StoraEnso.

StoraEnso is the world's second largest producer of paper and cardboard. It currently has 12 plants in Europe. Its first Russian plant was built at Balabanovo (Kaluga Region) and opened in 1998.