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Russia-Finland trade fell more than 30% in 2015

Finnish businesses are interested in organizing production lines in Russia instead of selling ready products

© EPA/MAURITZ ANTIN

SAMARA, March 1. /TASS/. Trade between Russia and Finland decreased by a third in 2015, Severi Keinala, head of export and international investment division of Finland’s ministry of employment and economic development, said on Tuesday.

"The current situation has triggered a certain decrease in trade between Russia and Finland. Import-export volumes in 2015 dropped practically by a third, or about 32-33%," he said, refraining however to cite exact data.

"The key reason for that is not the sanction regime but an economic recession. Oil prices have dropped, the ruble has devaluated, access to finances has shrunk for businesses. All this has adversely told on exports of goods to Russia. However only a few Finnish companies had to withdraw from the Russian market. The majority of them are still doing business here and keep on investing in Russia," he said.

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Finnish businesses, according to Keinala, are more interested not in selling ready products in Russia but in organizing production lines here.

According to the Finnish embassy in Russia, more than 400 Finnish companies are currently operating in Russia giving jobs to about 50,000 people. The aggregate investment of Finnish companies in Russia nears 12 billion euro.

The Finnish delegation on Tuesday took part in the 16th session of the cooperation subgroup of the Finnish ministry of employment and economic development and Russia’s Samar region.

According to earlier reports, Russia-Finland trade dropped by 15% in 2014 on 2013, from $18.7 billion to $16 billion.

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