RI, Finnish embassy to hold workshop

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