Vesa Himanen, Finland's ambassador to Poland, feels that the potential for economic cooperation has not yet been fully tapped Courtesy of the Finnish Embassy

Ewa Boniecka: Finland and Poland have had harsh experiences in their historical relations with Russia. During the communist period, Poles viewed Finland’s independence with profound respect and envy. The term “Finlandization” [referring to Finland’s special status with the Soviet Union] was an impossible dream for us. How is that part of history seen in your country?

Vesa Himanen: “Finlandization,” or, as it is often termed, “Finlandisierung,” was looked upon differently in my country. In Finland it had a negative sense, a negative connotation vis-á-vis our relations with the Soviet Union. So this word is not popular today. But I think that our foreign policy in those times was respected as balanced, partly due to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which was a Finnish initiative.

I would say that today it doesn’t matter much though, because we like to look forward, not backward. In Poland, history seems to be more of an everyday topic than in Finland.

Finland and Poland border Russia directly. Does this have any significance for Finnish-Polish relations?

I think it has a certain meaningfulness, because we share the understanding that we are located on the border of the EU and have a big, extra-bloc neighbor next door. So it is natural that our two countries are more interested than some other EU members in what is going on in Russia and how her relations with the EU develop.

But there are differences between the situations of Finland and Poland.

First, Finland has a very long border with Russia. Secondly, our relations with the Soviet Union were different in character from Poland’s. In our case, I don’t think that the basis for our neighborhood policy with Russia has changed very much. We take it as a fact of life that we have important economic and other interests with Russia and we cooperate with them as before. Our policy towards Russia is pragmatic.

I think, however, that what is most important for both Finland and Poland in maintaining relations with Russia is to acknowledge that we do so as members of the European Union, which, as a strong player on the European and international scenes, has a significant political and economic position in Moscow’s eyes.

In what areas do Finland and Poland cooperate in the European Union?

We cooperate effectively in many areas. We are, for instance, involved in finding concrete methods to implement the Eastern Partnership program and in pushing forward cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. And Finland, which is not a member of NATO, is supportive of the Polish and French proposal to strengthen European defence and security policy within the framework of the EU.

Turning to Finnish-Polish economic relations, do you think they reflect the state of our political ties?

Not exactly. In my opinion, our economic and trade relations could and should be much more intensive. Mutual trade has grown since Poland’s entry to EU – it reached around E2 billion in 2008. But that level is not satisfactory, because both sides agree that the potential for growth in mutual trade turnover as well as in Finnish investment in Poland is much larger.

There are now 200 Finnish companies in Poland, 70 of which have production operations in many parts of the country. They represent various branches of production, from food, pulp and paper to highly sophisticated technologies. We are also active in research; Nokia Siemens Networks has a research center in Wrocaw with 1,200 specialists.

And even though the present recession has affected Finland’s export-oriented economy, our highly acclaimed new technologies could offer prospective areas for cooperation with Poland in sectors like renewable energy, the environment and infrastructure.

One of Poland’s priorities in its energy policy is diversification and, to that end, it plans to build two nuclear power plants. Finland has a well developed nuclear energy sector – is there potential for cooperation?

Yes. We have four nuclear plants in Finland covering – together with other important sources of energy – our needs, which are high due to our large territory and the extreme climate in the north. Nuclear energy is clean and safe, but the cost of building plants is very high and there is also the need to assure people of their safety.

Finnish authorities, companies and our highly acclaimed specialists are already cooperating with the Poles in the preparation process. But there is still much to do and the Polish government will be the one deciding what kind of technology will be implemented and what form of cooperation it will pursue with foreign companies. Certainly Finland is capable of such cooperation.