Tatarstan President meets Finnish Ambassador to Russia in the Kazan Kremlin

On November 15, at their meeting in the Kazan Kremlin, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov and Finnish Ambassador to Russia Mikko Hautala discussed various areas for cooperation.

The Finnish delegation consists of 26 business representatives, as well as officials, who arrived in Kazan yesterday. Today’s programme of their visit includes a ceremony of laying the first stone to mark the start of the construction of a new residential complex using Finnish technology, the launch of the Days of Finnish Culture and some negotiations.

Minnikhanov congratulated the Ambassador, and through him all the Finnish people on the upcoming 100th anniversary of the independence of Finland, as well as on the 25th anniversary of the signing of the treaty on the foundations of relations between Russia and Finland.

Tatarstan President said that he had visited Finland two years ago and was impressed with the pace of the country's development, the effectiveness of managing economic, electoral and cultural-educational processes.

Minnikhanov noted that some promising areas for joint work have already been outlined, including building technologies, increasing the energy efficiency of existing production facilities, joint projects in the machine-building industry, aircraft and helicopter industry and shipbuilding, production of aircraft engines, logging and wood processing, and waste processing. Among the promising areas for sharing experiences and starting joint projects he mentioned agriculture, medicine, ecology, logistics, digital technologies, tourism, cultural exchange, sports and all levels of education from kindergarten to universities.

"We are very glad that, despite the difficult situation in the world, Russia and Finland have maintained relations," Mikko Hautala said.

According to him, Finland focuses on maintaining this trend. "We have chosen a strategy at the embassy that we will work actively with those regions of Russia, which have the greatest potential. Tatarstan is among them," the ambassador said.

"As for economic ties, the most important thing is that Tatarstan has a strong industrial base and vast opportunities. It is also important that the economy of the future, including artificial intelligence, start-ups and so on is already actively developing in your republic. We would like to work in this direction,” Mikko Hautala said.