Middle East | This is how Minister Tavio commented on his participation in the criticized Qatar Economic Forum

foreign trade– and the Minister of Development Ville Tavio (ps) justifies its participation in the Qatar economic forum with the fact that for Finland “as a small open economy, it is important to increase exports and build connections to growing markets”.

“I have had discussions with local ministers and representatives of the business world about increasing connections in business life and what Finnish companies can offer to Qatar,” Tavio commented briefly on the matter via email to HS.

In addition to reasons related to exports, Tavio reminds us of Qatar’s role as a mediator in negotiations with Israel and Hamas.

“The negotiations have resulted in the release of the hostages, and I hope that the negotiations will lead to the release of the rest and de-escalation,” writes Tavio.

TERRORISM the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) non-governmental organization specializing in research demanded on Tuesday to boycott the Qatar Economic Forum. The three-day forum will be held this week and its first day was on Tuesday.

CEP demanded in the announcement published on its website attempts to withdraw their participation in the forum because of Qatar’s links to Hamas.

CEP writes that by participating in the forum, the companies are directly participating in “Qatar’s long-term efforts to whitewash its support for Hamas.”

I understand According to the report, alongside export promotion, a broader dialogue is also planned in Qatar, in which Finland promotes its own “goals in accordance with its rights and value base”.

More precisely, Tavio does not open this dialogue. However, Tavio emphasizes that there is good potential for increasing exports to Qatar.

According to him, “it is in our national interest to take advantage of the opportunities in order to get the income needed to maintain Finland’s welfare state”.

“The interest of Finnish companies in Qatar is increasing. At the moment, there are a couple of Finnish companies operating in Qatar, whose annual sales are hundreds of millions of euros”, writes Tavio in his email reply.