Visit to Finland

I began my visit to Finland at an excellent event run by the British & Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce in Finland ry in collaboration with Lisa Vainikainen, Billnäs Gård and their patrons. We discussed my role as Lord Mayor, my ‘Growth Unleashed’ agenda, which includes the recently launched Mansion House Accord, as well as the United Kingdom-Finland trade and investment relationship and future opportunities.

I then had the pleasure of meeting with Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen to discuss greater cooperation in financial services, particularly on how greater access to the United Kingdom’s deep capital markets could allow Finnish defence companies to scale up more rapidly. We also discussed the implementation of sanctions against Russia, and the opportunities for Finland arising from the British Government's forthcoming Industrial Strategy.

The visit concluded with meetings with Government Ministers and leading Finnish businesses to strengthen our economic ties. The United Kingdom is the second largest foreign investor into Finland, with investments worth over £17bn. The United Kingdom is also Finland’s second largest trading partner outside the EU, with trade worth over £6bn, a third of which is in services. As open economies, there is always plenty of opportunity for further trade - particularly in financial services.

I am proud to have adopted the Finnish concept of "Sisu" - the empowering push when we would otherwise hesitate to act - as my motto for my year in office. Embodying sisu, my theme, Growth Unleashed, is an unabashed call to be bolder, think smarter and take off the handbrake to secure new growth for the whole of the United Kingdom.