Finnish ambassador to Malaysia, Lauri Korpinen, last week announced that his government was eager to step up dealings with Malaysia.
Right now the Finns are aiming for defence contracts and to help promote Finnish companies, Defence Minister Dr Seppo Kaariainen is scheduled to arrive sometime this month, at the invitation of Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The visit will be a key visit as Finland is attempting a breakthrough into Malaysia’s defence industry. Malaysia has purchased defence equipment from Finland’s Scandinavian neighbour Sweden, but no weaponry has been sourced from Finland which is said to be interested in assembling armoured vehicles here, and looking for potential partners to manufacture or assemble the vehicles.
Korpinen named Patria, Finland’s armoured modular vehicle (AMV) maker, as the interested party.
Other Finnish companies are already present in Malaysia, and Korpinen, who is into his mid-term since his posting here in 2004, was pleased to announce they were performing well.
Helsinki-based Nokia is the world’s largest producer of cellular phones, and holds the largest market share in Malaysia in terms of sales.
Nokia is among the 45 Finnish enterprises operating in Malaysian niche fields that include power generation, aviation, construction, finance, education, pulp and paper, fertiliser production, special machinery sales and engineering software.
“Malaysia is becoming an investment target for Finnish firms due to your excellent infrastructure and airport, lower costs plus the availability of broadband and telecommunication services,” the ambassador said.
“There is also less bureaucracy and red-tape involved now,” added Korpinen, who was previously ambassador to South Korea.
Other Finnish companies present in Malaysia include Tekcnomen (software), Fortum Power (power production), Kone (elevators), Storaenso (paper milling), Kemira (fertilisers), Vaisala (weather forecasting), Comptel (telecommunications) and Partek (material handling systems for harbours/terminals).
