VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Finland is one of Russia's major trade partners. In 2009, Russian-Finnish trade reached about $12.5 billion, with exports totaling $8.5 billion and imports reaching $3.8 billion, while in 2008 the trade reached $22.4 billion. According to Russia's Federal Customs Service, from January through November of 2009 the trade turnover between the two countries totaled about $11.6 billion, showing an overall decrease of 44%, with Russia's exports at $8 billion (a 44.7% decrease) and imports accounting for $3.5 billion (a 42.7% decrease).
In 2009, Russia's exports to Finland included oil, oil products and natural gas at 71% of the total, chemical products at 10%, metals and metal products at 10%, and timber, pulp and paper products at 5%.
Russia's imports include machinery, equipment and transport facilities at about 36%, chemical products at 13%, timber, pulp and paper products at 17%, and food products and agricultural raw materials accounting for 10%.
According to Russia's Federal Service for State Statistics, in 2008 the aggregate volume of Finland's investments in Russia was $3 billion, or 1.1% of all foreign cumulative investments in Russia, including direct investments of $2.1 billion, indirect investments of $16.4 million and other investments totaling $797 million.
In 2008, Finland invested $1.3 billion in the Russian economy, including direct investments of $763 million, indirect investments of $2.2 million and other investments totaling $545 million.
As of late September 2009, Finland's aggregate investments in the Russian economy totaled $3 billion, with direct investments amounting to 63.1%.
In the first nine months of 2009, Finland invested $1.131 billion, including direct investments totaling $577 million, or 51.6%.
Russia's Northwestern and Central Federal Districts receive 96% of Finland's direct investments, with 70% and 26%, respectively. vstavka
The two countries have implemented 20 large joint investment projects in Russia. Significant investments are planned for energy projects, with the Fortum energy concern, logistic infrastructure with Sponda and EKE Group, as well as the construction of science and technology parks and business centres in St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, involving Russia's Tekhnopolis and Finland's EKE Group and Lemcon.
Finland's largest investment project is Fortum's acquisition of 75% of the Russian power generating company TGK-10 in Western Siberia in 2008, with a value of 2.1 billion euros. By the end of 2008, Fortum had consolidated 95% of its shares in TGK-10 and delisted the company on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, with the deal worth up to 2.7 billion euros. Under the deal, Fortum is obliged to double TGK-10's total capacity from the current 3,000 megawatts. In December 2009, Fortum announced the postponement of construction on the fifth power generating unit at the Tyumen HPP-2 from 2012 to 2014.
Currently, Fortum is constructing new power generating units at the Chelyabinsk HPP-3 and the Tyumen HPP-1, as well as turbines at the Tobolsk Heat and Power Plant. The projects are due for completion in 2010.
Russian investments in the Finnish economy are insignificant. According to reports from the Bank of Finland, in 2008 they totaled 482 million euros, which is 5.6 times less than Finnish investments in Russia's economy. Finland has about 2,000 companies with Russian capital, most of them operating with the minimum allowable equity capital of 8,000 euros and are engaged in intermediate trade and consulting, as well as tourism, transport and logistics.
Among Russia's largest direct investments are Gazprom's purchase of 25% of the Finnish gas monopoly Gasum in 1994 and the reorganization of the former Ingosstrakh office into IngoNord insurance company in 2001. In 2002, Russia's Inter RAO UES launched its subsidiary RAO Nordic to trade electricity to North European countries. In 2006, Nafta-Moskva sold Finnish oil companies Oy Teboil Ab and Suomen Petrooli Oy to Russian oil giant LUKoil. In 2007, Russian metals giant Norisk Nikel bought Nickel Harjavalta nickel refinery from its U.S. owner Harjavalta Nickel.
On October 25, 2009, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen attended the 3rd Russian-Finnish Forest Summit which drew 200 participants from Russia and over 100 participants from Finland. The summit schedule included three round table discussions entitled "Investments and Innovations in the Timber Industry", "Forestry and Forest Resources" and "Development of Professional and Scientific Prospects for the Timber Industry". The summit ended with a memorandum signed between the two countries.
