Businesses from Finland should be more aggressive in coming to Tatarstan. This opinion was stated today by President of the Republic Rustam Minnikhanov at the meeting with President of Finland Tarja Halonen. The meeting took place in the Kazan Kremlin within the framework of the state visit of Tarja Halonen to Russia.

The President of Tatarstan thanked Her Excellency for her visit to Kazan, having paid attention to the fact that Tatarstan and Finland has much in common. “In your country, for over 100 years lives the Tatar community, which has kept its originality and culture”, the head of Tatarstan told Her Excellency “Your country is a place from which we learnt and is learning how to develop innovations, and now we are adopting your best practices in the sphere of education”.

From the economic point of view, Finland is especially interesting to Tatarstan as a destination to export its products of oil and petrochemical industries. “We should open all opportunities to Tatarstan businesses in your country, and your businesses should make itself at home in our republic”, Rustam Minnikhanov said to the President of Finland.

In turn, the President of Finland noted that she visits Kazan not by accident. “Yesterday in Moscow they asked me why I have not visited Tatarstan earlier”, Mrs. Halonen said to journalists. “Visiting this republic was advised to me by both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin. I heard that Tatarstan was a leader in the modernisation and innovative development among Russian regions”.

According to Mrs. Halonen, it is important to develop not only economic, but also cultural and educational ties between Finland and Tatarstan.
In conclusion, Her Excellency invited Rustam Minnikhanov to come to Finland with a return visit.