Minister Leppä on a Team Finland mission to South Africa

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Jari Leppä will accompany a Team Finland delegation on a visit to South Africa on 17–21 September. On the agenda during the visit are water management and food sector cooperation. The delegation is composed of representatives of Finnish companies operating in the food and water sectors and public authorities dealing with exports. The visit is organised in cooperation with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Business Finland.

In Pretoria Minister Leppä meets the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of South Africa Senzeni Zokwana and Minister of Water and Sanitation Gugile Nkwinti.

“The need to find solutions to saving and recycling water is growing. What Finland has to offer is competitive solutions to global water challenges and target-oriented collaboration between the private and public sector. Our strong water competence is combined with innovative IT expertise and reliable technology, and Finnish companies offer smart solutions to the monitoring and comprehensive management of water economy”, Minister Leppä says.

Minister Leppä also participates in networking and business meetings for companies in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

“South Africa values pure, high-quality raw materials very highly, which makes it one of the export markets with the greatest potential for Finnish food companies. Besides safety and purity, the strengths of Finnish foods include innovation and use of the most advanced technologies”, Minister Leppä says.

The Government key project launched in 2016 aims to promote Finnish food exports to market areas outside the EU. To gain access to these markets, inputs from the public authorities and negotiations among them are also needed. Among other things, the export promotion efforts taken so far have targeted the Asian market and supported the launch of fish, pork and milk product exports to South Africa.

Inquiries:
Risto Lahti, Special Adviser to the Minister, tel. +358 50 565 0424
Jertta de Mazieres, Ministerial Advisor, tel. +358 50 511 7316
Anna Salminen, Communications Specialist, tel. +358 50 358 8793

Business Finland:
Esa Wrang, Head of Industry, Food from Finland, p. +358 400 243 076

Companies in the Team Finland delegation:

Food sector

• Finn Spring
• Helsinki Mills
• Atria
• HKScan
• Apetit
• Raisio
• Valio
• Kinnusen Mylly
• Lignell & Piispanen
• Hätälä

Water sector:

• Aquamatters
• UROS
• SATEL