The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Finland sees scope for enhanced cooperation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 13, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Finland sees scope for enhanced cooperation

Special Correspondent

Engineering education, health services figure in Vanhanen's list Talks with Manmohan Singh will also cover improving trade ties and the relationship between the European Union and India

CHENNAI: Engineering education, mobile technology and health services are among the areas that offer scope for cooperation between Finland and India, Finland Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said on Sunday.

Interacting with reporters at Aynambakkam, about 25 km from here, he said the nations were strong in several areas. While India excelled in computer software, engineering education and tourism,

Finland was known for mobile technology, elevators, paper and pulp industry and wind energy.

Describing health services as an important area, he said several Indian hospitals and doctors were "selling" their services to foreigners.

Talks agenda

Asked about the agenda of talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh scheduled for Monday in New Delhi, Mr. Vanhanen said there were plans to sign agreements on technological cooperation and direct air services between the countries.

The talks would also cover the issue of improving trade ties and the relationship between the European Union and India. Finland would become the EU president in the second half of 2006.

Hoping for an early launch of the air services, Mr. Vanhanen said the journey from New Delhi to Helsinki would take six and a half hours. "The shortest route from India to Europe will be through Finland."

Stress on connectivity

Finland's Transport and Communication Minister Susanna Huovinen said better connectivity between the nations was important for Finnish companies.

She had discussed security issues in information technology with Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran, on Saturday.

Earlier, unveiling a plaque for an expansion project and a new training centre of KONE Elevator India Private Limited, Mr. Vanhanen recalled that the company began its business about 20 years ago.

"At the time, a word for `globalisation' was not invented, but companies were eager to expand and seek new market opportunities. In India, the investment climate has improved a lot since then, especially in recent years, thanks to a determined policy by the Indian Government."

Huge gap

Comparing the strength of Indian and Chinese markets in the segment of elevators and escalators, A. Sankarakrishnan, managing director of KONE Elevator India, said while orders were placed for 18,000 to 20,000 units with Indian companies annually, the figure was a whopping 1.25 lakh in China. He expressed the hope that the Indian market would grow in future.

He said Finland, despite being a small country, was the best in technology. About the expansion project, he said the expansion budget for the year was Rs. 23 crore.

The export target was Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 3 crore, excluding software and engineering exports.

Finnish Ambassador to India Asko Numminen and executive vice-president of KONE Elevator, Asia Pacific, Pekka Kemppainen, were present.

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