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Saudi Arabia, Finland to Establish 1st Joint Business Council

Part of the Saudi-Finnish joint business forum in Helsinki. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Part of the Saudi-Finnish joint business forum in Helsinki. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia, Finland to Establish 1st Joint Business Council

Part of the Saudi-Finnish joint business forum in Helsinki. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Part of the Saudi-Finnish joint business forum in Helsinki. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Federation of Saudi Chambers and the Finland Chamber of Commerce signed on Friday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Helsinki to establish a joint Saudi-Finnish Business Council.

Under the MoU, the Council will carry out commercial and promotional activities systematically in the field of trade and investment, while focusing on the targeted sectors in the economic cooperation agenda.

It will also focus on developing new areas of economic cooperation, promoting links between the Saudi and Finnish business sectors and exchanging information on available markets and investment opportunities.

The Federation also signed an MoU with the government program, Business Finland, which is specialized in financing and promoting trade and investment in Finland.

The MoU seeks to ensure bilateral cooperation in the field of promoting bilateral trade and investment, particularly in technology, digitalization, energy, circular economy, mining, transport and logistics services, health care and water sectors.

The agreements are expected to reflect positively on the role played by the two countries’ business sectors and increase their joint economic activities in a way that supports the development of their trade exchanges.

Meanwhile, a delegation of 27 representatives of Saudi companies in various economic sectors held intensive talks and meetings with the Finnish business sector to explore the available trade and investment cooperation opportunities and establish commercial partnerships.

The volume of trade exchange between the Kingdom and Finland amounted to about SAR1.9 billion in 2021, of which SAR37 million ($10 million) are Saudi exports.

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the General Authority for Foreign Trade Dr. Majid al-Qasabi has recently underscored the importance of bolstering economic partnership and expanding and diversifying bilateral trade, which is estimated at $645 million annually.

He also called for benefiting from Finland’s leadership in research and development, education and training, start-ups, innovation and other sectors.

Qasabi arrived in Helsinki heading a high-level Saudi delegation to participate in the activities of the forum organized by the Business Finland program, in cooperation with the Federation of Saudi Chambers.

He said that since Vision 2030, the Kingdom’s economy has been transforming into a global commercial and logistical hub by taking advantage of its geographic location and potentials that are currently being developed in light of the National Strategy for Transport and Logistics Services.

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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia's Gazprombank on Thursday, the Treasury Department said, as President Joe Biden steps up actions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine before he leaves office in January.
The move, which wields the department's most powerful sanctions tool, effectively kicks Gazprombank out of the US banking system, bans its trade with Americans and freezes its US assets, Reuters reported.
Gazprombank is one of Russia's largest banks and is partially owned by Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom. Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been urging the US to impose more sanctions on the bank, which receives payments for natural gas from Gazprom's customers in Europe.
The fresh sanctions come days after the Biden administration allowed Kyiv to use US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory. On Tuesday, Ukraine fired the weapons, the longest range missiles Washington has supplied for such attacks on Russia, on the war's 1,000th day.
The Treasury also imposed sanctions on 50 small-to-medium Russian banks to curtail the country's connections to the international financial system and prevent it from abusing it to pay for technology and equipment needed for the war. It warned that foreign financial institutions that maintain correspondent relationships with the targeted banks "entails significant sanctions risk."
"This sweeping action will make it harder for the Kremlin to evade US sanctions and fund and equip its military," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. "We will continue to take decisive steps against any financial channels Russia uses to support its illegal and unprovoked war in Ukraine."
Gazprombank said Washington's latest move would not affect its operations. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Along with the sanctions, Treasury also issued two new general licenses authorizing US entities to wind down transactions involving Gazprombank, among other financial institutions, and to take steps to divest from debt or equity issued by Gazprombank.
Gazprombank is a conduit for Russia to purchase military materiel in its war against Ukraine, the Treasury said. The Russian government also uses the bank to pay its soldiers, including for combat bonuses, and to compensate the families of its soldiers killed in the war.
The administration believes the new sanctions improve Ukraine's position on the battlefield and ability to achieve a just peace, a source familiar with the matter said.
COLLATERAL IMPACT
While Gazprombank has been on the administration's radar for years, it has been seen as a last resort because of its focus on energy and the desire to avoid collateral impact on Europe, a Washington-based trade lawyer said.
"I think that the current administration is trying to put as much pressure and add as many sanctions as possible prior to January 20th to make it harder for the next administration to unwind," said the lawyer, Douglas Jacobson.
Officials in Slovakia and Hungary said they were studying the impacts of the new US sanctions.
Trump would have the power to remove the sanctions, which were imposed under an executive order by Biden, if he wants to take a different stance, Jacobson said.
After Russia's invasion in 2022, the Treasury placed debt and equity restrictions on 13 Russian firms, including Gazprombank, Sberbank and the Russian Agricultural Bank.
The US Treasury has also worked to provide Ukraine with funds from windfall proceeds of frozen Russian assets.