Finland Times

 

South Korean President Park Geun-hye (R) shakes hands with Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb Before Their meeting at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on November 20, 2014. Photo AFP- Lehtikuva.

Prime Minister Alexander Stubb on Thursday met the President of the Republic of Korea, Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister Chung Hong-won in the country's capital, Seoul, and discussed matters of mutual cooperation, said an official press release on Friday.

 

The meeting with President Park Geun-hye focused on relations between Finland and Korea and economic cooperation opportunities found especially in relation to the Arctic region and in the fields of cleantech and creative economy. 

 

The visiting Finnish Prime Minister and the Korean President also talked about concrete business opportunities for Finnish companies in Korea.

 

“In the future, Finland and Korea could work together, for example, on the development of a 5G network and the preparations of PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Korea,” said Stubb.

 

Regional issues including the situations in East Asia, Ukraine and Russia were also discussed in the meetings.

 

The agenda of the official discussions with Prime Minister Chung Hong-won focused on economic relations but also on free trade and climate issues. 

 

Both the Prime Ministers agreed that Finland and Korea are a pair of very like-minded countries in many issues, for example, Finnish design is well-known in Korea. 

 

Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb (L) shakes hands with his South Korean counterpart Chung Hong-Won Prior to Their meeting at the government complex in Seoul on November 20, 2014. The three-day visit of the Finnish Delegation aims to strengthen economic ties. Photo AFP- Lehtikuva.

The Prime Ministers stressed the importance of developing the already efficient student exchange system as well as tourism relations and the cooperation potential in the field of education. 

 

Stubb pointed out that the flight connection from Helsinki to Seoul is the shortest one from Europe to South Korea.

 

The meeting concluded with the signing of an agreement between the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on cooperation in the field of maritime transport and an agreement between Napa, a Finnish provider of software solutions for maritime industry, and South Korean company Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering on Napa's environment-friendly software designed for Daewoo's vessels.

 

“The purpose of the visit and meetings was to strengthen Finland's image in Korea and explore new areas of collaboration. We aim to create opportunities for Finnish companies to operate in new market areas and strengthen the position of those already in the Korean market,” said Stubb.

 

The Prime Minister is accompanied by a Team Finland delegation comprising representatives of 23 Finnish companies and organisations. They represent various fields ranging from cleantech and ICT to tourism, education and winter sports.

 

The Republic of Korea is Finland's third most important trade partner in Asia after China and Japan.