Finnish companies operate in Iraq with help of local intermediaries

Details kept secret for security reasons

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Kari Norkonmaa, an Iraq expert working for Technology Industries of Finland, is aware of the dangers inherent in taking part in that country's reconstruction.
      In March last year he accompanied a group of Finnish businessmen to Iraq. The visit ended in sudden tragedy when two of them were killed in an insurgent attack.
      Norkonmaa says that he does not know of any representatives of Finnish business who would have been to Iraq since then. However, Iraqis have been in Finland for business talks. He also says that Finnish companies are involved in Iraq with the help of local intermediaries, and take part in bidding for projects.
      However, for security reasons he will not disclose what companies are currently involved in the talks in Iraq.
     
Last year the state-run export-promoting organisation Finpro actually sought to discourage Finnish companies from trying for the Iraqi market. This has changed.
      Pentti Kotiranta, head of Finpro's project negotiation service, still does not urge Finns to actually visit Iraq. However, he does encourage Finnish companies to compete for projects of the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI).
      Hopes are that the security situation in the country might improve before planned projects are actually implemented.
     
Involvement in the reconstruction effort does not necessarily require travelling to Iraq itself.
      Many Iraqi schoolchildren have Finnish chalkboards in their classes after ABCrownProducts delivered 60,000 boards produced in Jurva to Iraq this year.
      They were ordered by an international aid organisation, whose name is being kept a secret.
      ABCrownProducts was also in the bidding for a contract for school furniture, but was outbid by a competitor. The company's CEO Jan-Erik Granqvist nevertheless hopes that more projects might come in the autumn.
     
Wärtsilä is reportedly involved in building an oil-fired power plant for Iraq. The project is worth EUR 360 million.
      The company is not giving out details of the power plant, or its location. Wärtsilä does not have any Finnish personnel in Iraq, but the project is reportedly proceeding well.
      Nokia sold a mobile telephone network to the operator MTC, which is owned by Vodafone. The network is to be delivered to Southern Iraq. Like Wärtsilä, Nokia does not have any Finnish personnel in Iraq, and the project is completely in the hands of subcontractors.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Business delegation members leave Iraq after fatal shooting (24.3.2003)
  Two Finnish businessmen shot dead in back seat of car on Baghdad motorway (23.3.2004)
  Wärtsilä gets EUR 367 million order for two power plants in Iraq (18.3.2004)
  Representatives of Finnish industry to go to Iraq to revive business relationships (17.3.2004)

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