RI, Finnish embassy to hold workshop

JAKARTA: The Office of the State Minister for Research and Technology and the Embassy of Finland will jointly organize a workshop on the "Knowledge-Based Economy" this week in Jakarta, the Finnish embassy announced.

"The workshop will be held on Thursday. We are inviting two eminent Finnish speakers to speak on how Finland transformed from an agricultural-industrial economy to a knowledge-based economy," the embassy's deputy head of mission, Esa Hurtig, informed The Jakarta Post by e-mail.

The two speakers are Paula Tiihonen, a committee counsel to the Finnish Parliament's Committee for the Future, and Seppo Tiihonen, a financial counselor at Finland's Ministry of Finance, Hurtig said.

A number of Indonesian ministers, officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, academics and businesspeople are expected to attend the one-day workshop.

Finland's Ambassador to Indonesia Markku Niinioja will also address the gathering.

Two to three decades ago, Finland was relatively poor compared to other Nordic countries. Like Indonesia, which had a financial crisis in 1997, Finland also had a big recession between 1990 and 1993.

Thanks to the government's public policies, corporate restructuring and individual innovations, the Finnish knowledge- based economy quickly turned around. Now Finland is one of the richest countries in the world. -- JP