India, the fastest growing economy – Vaasa can contribute

India and Finland have traditionally maintained warm and friendly relations. In recent years, bilateral relations have become stronger and more diverse through cooperation in several areas such as research, innovation and mutual investments. Moreover, Finland has a very vibrant and established Indian community of over 15,000 members. Thereby, the Ambassador of India considered it very important to meet the Indian community also in Vaasa during his first day in the city. An informal and friendly Gathering took place in a local Cafeteria and the Ambassador was pleased to hear that the Indian community in Vaasa felt welcomed in the city.

Mayor, Tomas Häyry, External Relations Officer Susanna Slotte-Kock, together with Communication and Brand Manager Kristoffer Jansson welcomed the Ambassador and introduced him to the region and the energy cluster in Vaasa. Possibilities within the energy sector and potential future cooperation were experts could meet each other were discussed. India is nowadays the fastest growing economy in the world and bringing together Indian and Finnish companies can result in great and meaningful partnerships. As a first step, the Ambassador sets out to bring a delegation from India to the next annual Energy Week in 2023. The Ambassador also highlighted the need of developing better systems to support the Indian community not only with fast tracks for permit acquisitions but also with integration programs and Talent boost initiatives.

The Ambassador had several meetings with representatives from the companies in the Vaasa region. The first visit was to Citec, who is already present in India and has more than 600 employees that carry out a big part of their operations in the country. Cyient, a leading global technology solutions company with more than 16,000 associates across 22 countries, announced in August 2022 that it has now completed the acquisition of Citec and thereby extended the Indian family of Citec extensively. The Ambassador also visited the office of Mirka in Vaasa. The fact that partnerships with India can serve as opening doors to the Southeast Asian and African markets was pointed out. Propositions for more Finnish business in India and vice versa were discussed as well. A visit was also paid to VASEK, where CEO Stefan Råback together with CEO Kristian Schrey from Viexpo and Director Mikael Hallbäck from the Ostrobothnian Chamber of Commerce discussed that efforts need to be made to proactively create structures and support systems for companies in the Vaasa region through market analyses, recommendations and other provided facts so that the companies better can prepare themselves for the large Indian market.

The last visit was to Wärtsilä’s Sustainable Technology Hub, where President Sushil Purohit from Wärtsilä Energy and Director Vesa Riihimäki presented the very latest smart and sustainable technologysolutions for the marine and energy sector. Wärtsilä has been present in India already from 1983.

During his visit to the University of Vaasa, the Ambassador expressed a wish to see more students coming from India to Finland for their university studies, not only through exchange programs but completing all their higher education in Finland. The University of Vaasa in its turn, conveyed their willingness to do so and the efforts they are already making to achieve this. Possibilities for active University-to-University collaboration was also discussed.

The Indian Ambassador saw his visit to Vaasa as extremely fruitful, as areas of cooperation such as energy and education were recognized. Now paving the way for further mutual collaboration can start.