FACC Newsletter - Winter 2007

The visit of President Halonen

President Tarja Halonen visited Australia and New Zealand 13th - 21st February 2007. In Australia the President had a meeting with Prime Minister John Howard and Governor General Michael Jefferey. She gave a lecture in the Europe Centre at the Australian National University in Canberra and visited Sydney and Uluru.

In Sydney the President gave the opening speech at the "Summit on Innovation" on the 16th of February. The successful event was organised by the Chamber together with the European Australian Business Council (EABC)and the Sydney Chamber of Commerce.

The aim of the Summit was to increase cooperation between Australia and Finland by bringing their business and government and academic institutions together. Information relating to the experiences of each country's science and technology policies were outlined and discussed. Contacts were made with a view to future dialogue between the two countries.

The President was supported at the Summit by a range of notable Finnish industry, government and academic leaders including Raimo Väyrynen, President of the Academy of Finland, Petri Peltonen the Director General, Technology Department (Ministry of Trade & Industry), Erkki Leppävuori, CEO & President VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (Vmail), Elias Ekdahl, Director General of Geological Survey of Finland (Vmail).

The Australian representatives were Dr Jim Peacock, The Chief Scientist (Department of Education, Science & Training), Catherine Livingstone, former Chair of the CSIRO, Dr David Skellern, CEO National ICT Australia, John Fick, MD Capital Technic Group and Stephen James, Partner, TressCox Lawyers.

The Hon. Patricia Forsythe did a magnificent job in managing the discussion.

The feedback has been very positive and further meetings have been mooted with a view to building closer cooperation in the areas covered at the summit.

Political Finnish World First!

Finland, with more women Government ministers than men in the new look Finnish Parliament, has achieved a historical world first! Women in Finland have advanced further in politics than women anywhere else in the world and this new record is expected to be listed in the next Guiness Book of Records. Twelve of the twenty ministerial portfolios have been allocated to women.

The surprise win by the Centre and Conservative Parties over the Social Democratic Party in the April election has its leader Mr Eero Heinaluoma analysing what went wrong. Mr Matti Vanhanen, leader of the Centre Party continues as Prime Minister and Mr Ilkka Kanerv of the Conservatives appointed the new Foreign Minister.

90 Years of Independence

The people of Finland are unanimous that the independence the country gained on 6 Dec 1917 is the basis for its subsequent success, prosperity and wellbeing. This year the country will celebrate 90 years of independence with celebrations conducted in a relaxed and good-natured manner under the slogan Me/Vi (the Finnish and Swedish words for 'we').

The climax of this Jubilee year will be the President's Independence Day Reception and Ball whose guests will include representatives of the diplomatic corps, Members of Parliament, the Government, top civil servants, the armed forces, the churches, top levels of business, celebrities, artists and sporting heroes and will be televised and watched by over two million people. The tradition of these celebrations has spread to the local level. Flags are required to be flown and candles lit to celebrate independence in Finland's provincial capitals, municipalities, associations and homes.

Sibelius 2007 Anniversary - Win a trip or two to Finland

Several Sibelius promotions are taking place globally and in Australia including Sibelius Festivals in Adelaide - Sibelius Festival 28-30 June www.aso.com.au and Brisbane - 4MBS FESTIVAL OF CLASSICS 2007 12 May to 3 June www.4mbsclassicfm.com.au.

A Finnish Tourist Board Sibelius DVD/CD launch by Universal Music is currently taking place on Australian national TV channel SBS. Sponsors in the promotions include Lahti Travel, Lahti Symphony, Lahti Region, Finland Travel Bureau, Hotel Kamp, Silja Line MyPlanet and Finnair. There are opportunities to win a trip to Finland please visit www.universalmusic.com.au/sibelius or http://www.4mbsclassicfm.com.au/index.php?action=article&args=view&pg=215

Tours to the Sibelius festival in September can be booked via MyPlanet in Sydney 02 9020 5800 www.myplanetaustralia.com

New Finnish Consul

We are farewelling Consul Aino Elfgren as she is returning to Finland and welcoming Consul Pirjo Leino who will be starting her duties in Sydney on 1 August. Our sincere thanks to Aino for all her great support to the Chamber and we wish her the best of success in her new duties in Helsinki.

Pirjo's contact details email: pirjo.leino@formin.fi and tel. 02 - 93277904

Finnish business in Australia

SILVERBOATS THE NEWEST FACC MEMBER:

European Alufibre boats, manufactured by Silver in Finland, have been awarded with Australasian export rights to Scandinavian Boat Imports (SBI) who are based in Sydney. SBI is headed up by the dynamic team of Howard Lea and Kristian Myrthue, who expect rapid growth in the leisure boat market with this exciting new concept. Silver are a market leader in Europe, with 39 dealers in Finland, 7 importers across the rest of the continent and with annual sales of well over 2500 units.

The boats themselves are a 'best of both worlds' combination, with a sturdy 4mm aluminum hull and a stylish, fully molded fiberglass interior. European design and styling with the very best of EU safety standards make this a desirable boat for sports enthusiasts, anglers and those just wanting to 'mess about on the water' www.silverboats.com.au.

F-SECURE PROVIDES INTERNET SECURITY FOR OPTUS CUSTOMERS

Optus has partnered with Finnish internet security company F-Secure to offer customers a complete security solution for the Optus Internet Security Suite. Jari Heinonen, Vice President for F-Secure Corporation, APAC Region, said he was looking forward to helping Optus customers obtain greater internet security through the new security system. "The Optus Internet Security Suite uniquely combines innovative technology and powerful security features in an easy to use installation - developed especially with customers in mind," Mr. Heinonen said. The Optus Internet Security Suite offers customers with an Optus Broadband connection a free suite of online security services including Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, Firewall, Anti-Spam and Parental Control - giving them speed plus safety. F-Secure has been operating in APAC for 10 years and has it's headquarters and operational centre in Malaysia. FinPro representative, Pamir Consultant, has been assisting F-Secure to get in to the Australian market. "Australia is a significant market for us in the APAC region. The knowledge of new security systems is high and the pricing structure is fairly good which makes Australia a good potential market for us," said Jari. www.f-secure.com.

LIVE THE GAMES DOWNUNDER - 2007 WORLD POLICE AND FIRE GAMES, ADELAIDE

Finland entered a team of 130 people at the recently held 2007 World Police and Fire Games in Adelaide. With over 9000 contestants, it is one of the world's largest mass participation sports events, bigger than the Commonwealth Games in terms of competitor and sport numbers. The Games opened at the Adelaide Oval with over 20,000 viewers at the Opening Ceremony. Along with Commonwealth and Olympic athletes participating from around the world were the veteran Finnish Basketball players, Jarkko Tuomala, Jyrki Kutvonen and Pekka Lahdetniemi from Kotka and Helsinki who played for the Finish Basketball team. www.2007wpfg.com

Macquarie University looking for Finnish students

Associate Professor William McGaw, Pro Vice-Chancellor, International at Macquarie University, who's responsible for developing the student community abroad, is looking to improve the relationships with Finnish academic and other similar bodies. The University is looking to increase the number of students bilaterally from the current 500 students from Finland and about 20 students to Finland to over 1000 in the next couple of years. For more information please contact william.mcgaw@vc.mq.edu.au

Finn of the month

Adelaide based Riku Laanti of Pamir Consulting is the official partner of Finpro in Australia and New Zealand. (Finpro is a government backed organisation helping Finnish companies to internationalise.) As a part of this partnership he works in a close cooperation with Finpro's global ICT team and Finpro's South East Asian organisation. Consulting projects have also included co-operation with many leading global ICT companies, such as long-term co-operation with Hewlett-Packard's Mobile E-Services-bazaar.

Riku is also a Lecturer, International Business, at the International Graduate School of Business (IGSB), University of South Australia. Mr Laanti has an MBA (Finance) degree from the Helsinki School of Economics, and he is currently finalizing his PhD research on international business and strategy at the University of Adelaide.

Riku has a background in the telecommunications industry where he has worked for fifteen years, including director positions in Telia Mobile/Telia Finland (Telia is the largest telecom operator in the Northern Europe).

The Laanti family has been traveling widely around the country and is very familiar with the wine region in South Australia. Many Finns might recall Riku as one of the top basket ball players in Finland; He played over 10 years in the Finnish basketball league and has over 100 international games under his belt as a member of the Finnish National Basketball team and Finnish Basketball League. Riku still occasionally plays basket ball as a hobby in the university team. Email: riku.laanti@pamirconsulting.com

Events in Australia 2007

Please, note that the dates are yet to be confirmed. For enquiries and suggestions for future events please contact: the FACC secretariat secretary@finland.com.au or call 02 -9327 5164

SAS’ green approach

SAS Scandinavian Airlines now offers customers in the SAS Group the possibility to offset carbon dioxide emissions arising from air travel by paying compensation.

Customers wishing to offset their impact on climate change can now log on the SAS Group website, www.sasgroup.net, and click through to SAS’ professional supplier partner, the CarbonNeutral Company, in charge of the compensation transaction. Customers can offset carbon dioxide emissions by choosing to support various sustainable development projects such as renewable energy.

SAS is also informing that the SAS Business Sleeper is now available for customers on all Scandinavian Airlines' intercontinental flights to Asia and the US from its Copenhagen and Stockholm hubs. www.flysas.com.au

FACC BOARD 2006-2007

The board members can be contacted at facc@finconsyd.net