OREANDA-NEWS. November 29, 2012. At Estonian-Finnish forum ‘Together we are unique’, which was attended by the prime ministers of both countries, the Estonian ministers for economic affairs and communications and education and research and entrepreneurs from both countries, the participants agreed that Estonian and Finnish companies are working very closely together and that the economic ties between the two countries are constantly growing.

Finland remains the second largest direct investor in Estonia after Sweden. “In the first six months of 2012, 3.1 billion euros in direct investment had been made in Estonia from Finland, which accounts for 23% of all investments,” said Prime Minister Ansip, speaking at the forum. He said he was pleased that trade in goods between the two countries is continuing to grow. Based on statistics for the first half of 2012, Finland remains Estonia’s biggest trade partner, its biggest import partner and its second biggest export partner. Compared to the same period in 2011, imports have grown by 30% and exports by 4%.

The close ties between the neighbouring countries are also reflected in the fact that 4700 Finnish companies are registered in Estonia, 500 of which were started in 2011. Estonia is also the number one tourist destination for Finns. “These figures might make it seem as though relations between our countries couldn’t be better, but there is still room for improvement in joint research and development and in fostering the internal market,” Ansip added.

At the end of 2011 there were 1533 Estonian companies operating in Finland, mostly in the fields of construction and trade. Businesses from the two countries are most commonly linked through subcontracting and mediation, but more and more companies are working together on an equal footing in the fields of energy, information technology, shipbuilding and machinery construction and design and product development.

51 Estonian subsidiaries are also registered in Finland, with a total of 2031 employees. The most widely recognised include Tallink AS (Tallink Silja OY), AS Tavid (Tavex OY), AS Harju Elekter (Satmatic OY), Uptime, Bigbank, LHV, BLRT, Eesti Energia (Solidus OY) and Rand&Tuulberg.