The Ukrainian-Finnish Business Seminar organized by the Embassy of Ukraine in Finland with the support of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the State Company "Business Finland" was held in Helsinki on March 9, 2020.

The Ukrainian delegation was headed by the Director-General for Interaction with the Exporters and Export Promotion of the Ministry for Development of Trade, Economy and Agricultural of Ukraine Ms. Alina Shyshkina.

The event was designed to provide the Finnish entrepreneurs, investors and other professionals information on the novation in the trade legislation of Ukraine, country business climate, as well as to inform the Finnish audience about new opportunities for doing business in Ukraine in the context of implementation of the DCFTA (Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area) between Ukraine and the EU.

The relevant speeches together with the presentations were delivered by the Acting Head of the State Institution “Export Promotion Office of Ukraine” Tetiana Miskova and the Head of Analytics of the Ukrainian Investment Promotion Office Mr. Volodymyr Dembitskyy.

In his welcoming speech Charge d`Affaires of Ukraine in Finland Mr. Illya Kvas noted that in the context of the intensive high-level political dialogue between Kyiv and Helsinki, practical efforts from the business community of both countries are also needed in order to increase trade turnover and efficiency of economic relations.

On the margins of the seminar, Alina Shyshkina met with State Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland Mr. Matti Anttonen and Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Employment of Finland Mr. Petri Peltonen. The interlocutors discussed how to support the increasing of bilateral trade volume and economic cooperation, in particular, by exchanging of the business delegations and holding of the 8th session of the Intergovernmental Ukrainian-Finnish Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation in Helsinki in autumn 2020.

Invited representatives of the Finnish companies (Konecranes Ukraine, Leinonen) shared their experiences on doing business in Ukraine. Moreover, B2B negotiations were held between Ukrainian exporters of the processed food product, as well as companies that specialize in renewable energy with their potential Finnish partners.