Finnish envoy: South Caucasus together with Türkiye and Central Asia becoming important market

New trends and cooperation opportunities that are opening between the countries of the South Caucasus are vitally important for the region, the Ambassador of Finland to the South Caucasus Kirsti Narinen said during the business forum Central Baltic-Azerbaijan, Report informs.

The diplomat recalled that this year marks the beginning of her sixth year as a regional ambassador.

"Regional cooperation is the essence of my agenda. Therefore, the new trends and opportunities that are opening up are vitally important. This is also important for business. I have spoken with many Finnish entrepreneurs, and they all note: the three countries of the region separately are too small as a market. But if we consider the region together with Türkiye - there is already serious potential. And if we extend cooperation to the countries of Central Asia located on the other side of the Caspian Sea, the conversation becomes even more extensive. This is precisely the meaning of EU connectivity programs," the ambassador emphasized.

Kirsti Narinen noted that the LEF Azerbaijan project has become particularly valuable as it brought people together and created a foundation for long-term interaction.

"In fact, it's not businesses, not companies, not ministries, and not chambers of commerce and industry that create results by themselves. Everything is based on the people who work in them. An example is attracting 70,000 people to Baku for COP29: it was about connecting people, about exchanging experience and energy. Therefore, the continuation of these friendly connections that we see and feel today in this room is vital - both for the region, and for Azerbaijan, and for Finns, Estonians and Latvians," the diplomat added.