ST. PETERSBURG, October 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is seeking Finnish investment in timber processing in the Russian Far East, Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko said on Sunday.
"So far, Finnish capital is largely invested in Russia's northwest and the Moscow Region. But Finnish investors are also present in China. Maybe it will be of interest for them to have their presence in the [Russian] Far East," Khristenko said at a timber summit in St. Petersburg.
Khristenko said that Finnish business in Russia was mostly involved in timber procurement while some projects related to profound timber processing, including pulp and paper production, had been frozen due to the financial crisis.
Russia, whose economy depends heavily on revenue from the sale of raw material commodities - mainly oil and gas - has so far failed to diversify its economy and create competitive value-added and high-technology industries.
Russia, which has about a quarter of the world's forests and exports large amounts of raw timber to Northeast Asia and Europe, including Finland, is seeking to create modern timber processing facilities inside the country.
According to Finland's data, Finland has invested almost 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in the Russian timber industry in the past 15 years.
