In 2021, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland published a Report on Development Policy Extending Across Parliamentary Terms, a guiding document that outlines the objectives and values of Finnish cooperation in the long run.
More specifically, Finland’s development policy and cooperation has five priority areas: 1. Rights of women and girls, 2. Education, 3. Sustainable economies and decent work, 4. Peaceful, democratic societies, and 5. Climate, biodiversity and sustainable management and use of natural resources.
The Ministry states that both private sector development and private sector cooperation are vital to Finland’s efforts to eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities. The aim is for enterprises in developing countries to grow and adopt responsible business practices that create decent jobs, thereby diversifying the economic base and promoting local production of goods and services.
Finland aims to ensure that governments of developing countries pursue industrial policies that bolster the private sector, promote responsible business conduct and support an environment conducive to innovation. Finland promotes innovation, digitalisation, and international innovation partnerships in developing countries, supporting new mechanisms and solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Ministry promotes and supports the opportunities of Finnish enterprises to take part in solving development challenges in developing countries. The starting point is that the competences and technology provided by Finnish enterprises are internationally competitive and can have relevance in responding to the genuine needs of the partner country. Enterprises must promote the principles of responsible business conduct through their operations and comply with the values and principles of development policy in their work. The aim is to increase the proportion of Finnish enterprises engaged in activities financed through development financing. An overview of support for various phases of business operations in developing countries is here; individual initiatives are linked below:
