Tampere opens first Finnish city office in Ukraine

Tampere is opening an office in Lviv, western Ukraine, on Thursday, becoming the first Finnish city to establish such a presence there, Yle reports. The Business Tampere representative office will help companies from the Pirkanmaa region access Ukraine’s large reconstruction market.

Although the war is still ongoing, Tampere Deputy Mayor Ilkka Porttikivi said companies must begin building connections now because finding local partners takes time.

Business Tampere, the Tampere city region’s economic development company, will help companies identify partners and meet them at the office in central Lviv. The company’s Ukraine country director, Minna Tihinen, said Tampere wanted to demonstrate that businesses seeking access to the Ukrainian market need to be present in the country.

Reconstruction could create billions in exports

Recent estimates put the cost of rebuilding Ukraine at more than 500 billion euros. The Confederation of Finnish Industries estimates that reconstruction could eventually generate between one and two billion euros in additional exports from Finland each year.

“One day the war will end, and construction and repairs are continuing even during the war,” said Pami Aalto, a professor of international politics at Tampere University. He said funding for reconstruction would remain available for years, possibly decades.

Aalto said it was already time for more initiatives like Tampere’s. According to him, other Nordic countries have been more active than Finland in developing economic cooperation with Ukraine.

Jyrki Härkki, a senior specialist at Business Finland, predicted a major rush to reconstruction projects once the war ends. He said Finnish companies should enter the market before then and begin building relationships immediately.

Minister says Finland is keeping pace

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio welcomed the opening of the Lviv office. He said he had encouraged large Finnish cities to look towards Ukraine and stressed that cooperation should help Finnish companies more broadly, not only Tampere businesses.

Tavio said Finland was not falling behind in pursuing business opportunities in Ukraine. Around 50 Finnish companies currently operate in the country, he said. Peikko, a specialist in concrete construction, and Hesburger already have production there.

He also said cooperation involving Wärtsilä power plants and a civil defence coalition led by Finland had received considerable praise.

Through Finnvera, Finland has allocated about 200 million euros to cover potential losses for Finnish companies operating in the Ukrainian market. Tavio said such export guarantees could reduce the risks of entering the market of a country at war.

Pirkanmaa has developed a defence industry cluster, whose importance Tavio said should not be underestimated. He described defence expertise as one of Finland’s leading export sectors and said companies were increasingly seen as less credible if they had no operations in Ukraine.