Finland Times

 

The Finland and Russia on Wednesday decided to establish  a cross-administrative border traffic working group to enhance functionality of border traffic, the border crossing stations and the relevant traffic routes.

The decision has been taken at the 13th joint meeting of the Finnish-Russian Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation held at Turku in Finland, said a government press release.

The Finnish Customs and Border Guard signed an agreement  with Rosgranitsa, the Federal Agency for the Development of the State Border Facilities of the Russian Federation regarding  the enhanced cooperation.

"Russian tourism is extremely important for Finland, and last year the border between our countries was crossed 12 million times, which is a new record,"  said the Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade, Alexander Stubb, who co-chaired the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitri Kozak.

"With the help of the working group, we want to expedite development of border infrastructure and eliminate bottlenecks, " he said.

Both the countries signed an action plan exploring the opportunities of modernization partnership between Finland and Russia, including ongoing cooperation projects within the fields of pharmaceutical technology, biotechnology, telecommunications, cleantech, construction, and development of vocational education.

The meeting also addressed traffic issues, Finnish cooperation with Russian regions, construction industry, agriculture, innovation cooperation and shipbuilding. In addition, the parties discussed the implementation of Russia's WTO commitments.

The Economic Commission is tasked with removal of obstacles to trade and investments, and promotion of connections between companies and development of the business atmosphere. There are 14 sector-specific groups working under the Commission, and the Commission offers framework for Finnish cooperation with ten Russian regions. The co-chairs of the Economic Commission met the last time in Helsinki, in October 2012.