Kazakhstan – Finland: Memorandum of Cooperation in the Field of Mechanical Engineering has been signed

During the visit of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev to Finland, a memorandum of collaboration and cooperation in the field of mechanical engineering was signed. On 16 October The Delegation of the Union of Mechanical Engineers of Kazakhstan headed by the Chairman of the Board, a deputy of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Pshhembaev M.K. took part in a business forum in Helsinki, Finland. As part of the business trip, the delegation of the Union of Mechanical Engineers of Kazakhstan met with the chairman of the board of directors of Nokia, Risto Silasma, who is also the chairman of the board of the Finnish Federation of Sectoral Technologies.

During the visit, a memorandum of cooperation was signed with Risto Silasma - Chairman of the Finnish Federation of Sectoral Technologies, in order to develop economic cooperation aimed at the development of machine building in Finland and Kazakhstan.

The memorandum is aimed at strengthening business cooperation and expanding bilateral relations in the field of mechanical engineering in Finland and the Republic of Kazakhstan.

This memorandum will contribute to the establishment of new long-term mutually beneficial business partnerships, as well as the implementation of highly innovative projects implemented jointly by enterprises and entrepreneurs of Finland and Kazakhstan in the engineering and related industries.

For reference: The machine building industry of Finland, as the most important component of the technological industry of the country, unites such significant industries in terms of production volumes as the production of transport and material handling equipment, machinery and equipment for the timber, chemical, metallurgical and mining industries. Investments in the industry have recently reached 600 million euros per year and more than half of this amount is invested in research and development. Almost 130 thousand people are employed in mechanical engineering (28.5% of all those employed in the Finnish economy). The number of jobs in the industry, however, has steadily decreased since 2001 by about 1–1.5% per year.

Risto Silasma is chairman, founder and former CEO of F-Secure Corporation (formerly Data Fellows), an anti-virus and computer security software company based in Helsinki, Finland. Being the largest shareholder of F-Secure, he owns about 40% of the company. He is also chairman of Nokia’s board since 2012. In October 2018, Risto Silasma published a book about Nokia, Transforming Nokia: The Power of Paranoid Optimism Leading Through Tremendous Changes.

The Union of Machine Builders of the Republic of Kazakhstan unites more than 414 enterprises, 9 industry associations and has 14 regional representatives throughout Kazakhstan. Its goals are the development of the domestic machine-building industry and the consolidation of domestic machine-building enterprises.