Finnish Ambassador to Hungary Pekka Kujasalo entered the Foreign Service with a military background 30 years ago, and has since been posted to diverse places including Austria, Saudi Arabia and China. He has represented Finland in various international security conferences and capacities, including having served as ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna from 1998-2002.

What benefits do Hungary and Finland enjoy as a result of the common language roots of the two nations?

Pekka Kujasalo Importantly, our countries share a mutual sympathy. I have been here for two years now and have noticed that Hungarian's have a great deal of awareness about Finland. We share ties, having some 51-twin cities and 45 active Finnish friendship societies. The reason of course is that almost 150 years ago, in the mid-19th century, we established the linguistic relationship between our countries, and scholars began to quickly find other contact points including cultural personalities in both countries, both present and past.

Has the relationship changed given Hungary’s membership in the European Union (EU)?

Pekka Kujasalo The political contacts have intensified with many ministers and other officials visiting one another and EU meetings that have taken place on both sides. The current Finnish government has been in office for one year and two months, and in this time nine Finnish ministers have visited Hungary.

Several Hungarian ministers have also visited Finland in less than one year. It seems to be that these meetings point to the fact that our two EU-countries would like also to foster a closer bilateral relationship.

The high-tech industry is an important priority for Hungary and Finland. Do the two countries cooperate in that sector, or is there a kind of competition, even though Finland has been much stronger than Hungary in establishing its position over the years?

Pekka Kujasalo No … we are cooperating, and very concretely because you know that two Finnish IT-companies, namely Nokia and Elcoteq are very big in Hungary as well. Elcoteq has two factories in Pécs - the company currently employs more than 5,000 persons. Nokia has a factory in Komárom, as well as a research and development centre here in Budapest which employs several hundred Hungarian's and relies on Hungarian knowledge. The Komárom factory also employs several thousand people. This of course effects our trade. It is worth noting that the main commodities being imported from Finland to Hungary, and exported from Hungary to Finland are indeed the same. These include electronics, mobile phones and radios. This is a phenomenon of globalization.

Another important sector for Finland is the forestry industry. How does your country tackle environment protection conflicts that derive from forest exploitation?

Pekka Kujasalo Of course there have been conflicts, which are often based on false information. Some have claimed that Finnish enterprises use raw materials that are not consistent with the aims of sustainable development. But this is not true, and Finnish companies do much to rectify these false impressions. They obey whatever rules and norms exist, and our technology is perhaps the most advanced in the world, making the processes and the treatment of both energy and nature saving.

Nokia - The motor of Finnish enterprise
The Finnish company Nokia has sat confidently at the top of a mobile phone boom over the past decade and can claim one in every three phones globally as their own. In 2003, Nokia’s net sales were EUR 29.5 billion, fuelled by the popularly of phones equipped with colour screens and cameras. Nokia’s presence is felt in over 130 countries around the world. Sales are strong in Europe and China, but their biggest market is the United States. On top of this, they have manufacturing facilities in nine countries and research and development centres in 11 countries. Hungary is among those countries housing Nokia production.