WINDHOEK - Mika Lintilä, the Minister of Economic Affairs of the Republic of Finland, who arrived in Namibia on Saturday, is visiting the country for a week. The visit is organised in collaboration with Team Finland and Business Finland and includes about 50 industry leaders from 32 Finnish companies and institutions, making it one of the biggest business delegations of Finland so far accompanying the minister of economic affairs abroad.

During his visit Lintilä is scheduled to meet with his counterparts from the Ministries of Mines and Energy; Higher Education, Training and Innovation; Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development; and Finance. Minister Lintilä is also expected to pay a courtesy call to President Hage Geingob,  Vice President Nangolo Mbumba, as well  Prime Minister, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadilha, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.

According to  Lintilä, the visit is of high importance, as it holds the potential to turn Namibia into a gateway for Finnish businesses into the huge African market. The participants in the business delegation are interested in establishing partnerships with Namibian companies and institutions in the sectors of education, digitalisation, energy, bioeconomy/cleantech, mining, minerals and metal processing technology, as well as machine building. 

Tomorrow Lintilä and the business delegation will host an event on the topic “Finland World Ideas: Business Seminar on Cleantech, Digitalization, Education and Mining”. 

A preparatory meeting for the visit took place in Helsinki last week with the participation of Lintilä and the various business representatives. Namibian Ambassador to Finland, Bonny Haufiku, was invited to make a presentation on Namibia, the foreign investment climate in the country and the national development priority sectors, as well as networking with the business delegation.