Press releases, 11.12.2024
The Team Finland reform proceeds. After the transitional period, the foreign operations of Business Finland will be incorporated into the Foreign Service. The appropriation of Business Finland’s foreign network will be transferred to the administrative branch of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on 1 January 2025. The service agreement ensures that the export promotion services will continue without interruption.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Business Finland have concluded a fixed-term service agreement. As from 1 January 2025, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will use the budget funding to be transferred to purchase foreign network services produced by Business Finland until its foreign operations have been incorporated into the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Export promotion services for companies will continue without interruption over the turn of the year in accordance with the current service procedures.
The transfer of Business Finland’s foreign operations to the Foreign Service will take place after the bridge solution, when the preparations for the incorporation have been completed.
“Finland lives from exports. We will develop services for companies together with business and industry to respond to the true needs of the companies. With this reform, the companies will get more effective support from the foreign network for their export promotion on a one-stop shop basis. However, export promotion will continue to take place in close cooperation between several stakeholders in accordance with the ‘from regions to the world’ service path,” Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio says.
“Now that geopolitics and the economy have become even more closely intertwined, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs must also adopt a more comprehensive approach to promote Finland’s cause and exports. This reform will bring the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Business Finland more closely together. The expertise of Business Finland and contacts to companies are among the key elements in this package. The reform will reduce overlapping structures and enable even more high-quality export promotion services for companies,” Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen says.
The reform of the operations and governance of the Team Finland network together with business and industry is included in the Government Programme. The ministerial working group on employment and entrepreneurship decided on the incorporation of Business Finland’s foreign operations to the Foreign Service on 14 June 2024. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are responsible for implementing the decision.
Inquiries
Juha Pyykkö, Deputy Director General, tel. +358 50 430 7024
The email addresses of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are in the format firstname.lastname@gov.fi