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Russian-Finnish trade turnover on track to reach $11-12 bln in 2017

Russia's acting trade representative in Finland added that the investment cooperation is also stepping up

HELSINKI, September 14. /TASS/. The trade turnover between Russia and Finland may reach $11-12 bln in 2017, acting trade representative of the Russian Federation in Finland Sergey Sinelnikov said Thursday.

"Our share of Finland’s trade turnover has dropped in the past couple of years as we fell from the first to the third spot, though in any case Finland is a very important trade partner for Russia in northern Europe, in the EU. Finland was Russia’s 13th-biggest trade partner in terms of trade turnover, while Russia was third-biggest partner of Finland after Germany and Sweden in the first half of 2017," he said.

According to Sinelnikov, "what is most important is that we have busted out of the three-year slump in external trade between Russia and Finland." "According to the data provided by the Federal Customs Service, the amount of trade (between two countries - TASS) surged 46.5% in the first half of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016. Last year the trade turnover amounted to $9 bln, whereas this year it has already reached $6 bln," he said, adding that "we hope to reach $11-12 bln by the end of the year."

Acting trade representative added that the investment cooperation is also stepping up. "The amount of accumulated direct Finnish investment in the Russian economy equaled $3.8 bln in 2016, while the amount of Russian investment in the Finnish economy was $2.9 bln," he said, adding that "Finnish companies are actively implementing their investment projects (in Russia) despite challenging times."