NordenBladet — Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Madrid from 17 to 19 January. During his visit, Minister Soini will meet the Spanish Foreign Minister, Alfonso Dastis, and hold a lecture on security questions in Europe at the International Affairs and Foreign Policy Institute (INCIPE).
The main objective of the visit is to develop dialogue on key foreign and security policy matters and to advance bilateral cooperation in commercial and economic and EU questions. The topics on the agenda of the ministerial visit will include the future of the EU, mediation, the future of the Baltic Sea, and the EU’s neighbourhood and migration.
NordenBladet — Titta Andersson-Bohren has been appointed to work as Special Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen, starting from 1 February. Titta Andersson-Bohren, 33, has a Master of Social Sciences degree from the University of Tampere and a Master of Russian and Eurasian Studies from the European University at St Petersburg.
She has previously worked, for example, in the Sales and Marketing Department of Würth Group in Finland, as an Adviser in EU matters at a communications consultancy company in Brussels, and as an Assistant of a Member of the European Parliament.
Tuomas Rautanen will continue as Minister Mykkänen’s Special Adviser together with Andersson-Bohren.
NordenBladet — The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) will have a joint stand at the Travel Fair 2018, to be held at the Expo and Convention Centre in Helsinki from 18 to 21 January 2018. They can be visited at stand 6s61.
How can I travel safely the Madventures’ way and avoid running into the kind of difficulties that Turakainen does? Why is it important that I register my travel details with the Foreign Ministry? What precautions should I take to stay in good health when travelling? Can I avoid jet lag?
At the joint stand of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and THL you will get answers to these and other questions related to travelling. Experts in travel safety and travel health will offer useful tips for safe travelling and practical guidance for difficult situations. Riku Rantala and Tunna Milonoff, the Madventures duo, will host a discussion on travelling and share their best practices on how to prepare for a trip. Experts in emergency and crisis situations will clarify what Finland’s diplomatic missions can do to help Finnish citizens in distress abroad.
At the Travel Fair, you may also take part in a quiz and test how smart a traveller you are. Additionally, safe travelling will be the first topic of a podcast series (named Suomi mainittu!) to be launched by the Foreign Ministry just before the Travel Fair. The first podcast will feature Raimo Pahkasalo, Finland’s Consul in Ba ngkok, and Hanna-Liisa Peltoniemi, Desk Officer in the Unit for Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry.
NordenBladet — The chairs of the Finnish-Russian Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation will meet in Moscow on 16 January. The Economic Commission will be co-chaired by Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitri Kozak.
“Trade between Finland and Russia is developing favourably. At the same time, Russia’s tightening import substitution policy causes problems, and several separate challenges need to be discussed, such as a possible export ban on birch logs to be imposed by Russia. I intend to discuss the situation with Deputy Prime Minister Kozak and to help in reaching a solution to the problems,” Minister Mykkänen says.
In Moscow, Mykkänen will also attend the Gaidar Forum. The Forum is an annual event, convened to discuss the economic situation in Russia and the trends in world economy. It gathers together experts in economic questions and opinion leaders from different countries. Minister Mykkänen will hold a speech in the main panel discussion of the Forum. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will also speak at the event.
Mykkänen will also visit Finnish companies in Moscow and hold discussions with Russia’s Minister for Economic Development Maksim Oreshkin.
The aim of the Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation is to support Finnish and Russian companies’ business opportunities and to promote the commercial and economic relations between Finland and Russia. It consists of fifteen sectoral working groups and nine regional working groups. At the meeting, the chairs will handle, for example, questions related to trade, energy cooperation and the business environment in Russia. The chairs will also discuss challenges encountered by individual Finnish companies in Russia.
The trade between Finland and Russia has been on the increase starting from the end of 2016. Russia is the sixth most important destination of Finnish exports and second among the most important countries of Finnish imports. The value of Finnish investments in Russia is approximately EUR 12 billion.
Trade with Russia is subject to the economic sanctions imposed by the EU and Russia’s counter-sanctions. The EU sanctions are aligned to the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
NordenBladet – Scandinavia and Nordic countries attract investors like bees to a honeypot. It is no wonder that the Nordic attract with their ancient myths, heroes, mystical creatures, legends and success stories, Scandinavia with its intensity and wealth. It is the source of success no company wants to miss. It is a destination no one wishes to skip to visit, you would definitely want to see these territories, this culture and the opportunities everyone would like to benefit from.
Today, as the manager of NordenBladet, one of the biggest consolidated company in the Nordic (read more about it HERE), my priorities are targeted at the strong Scandinavian and Nordic conception. As the American president, Mr. Donald Trump has said “America first”, I say “Scandinavia first”. There is something special in Nordic countries, even the greatest and richest in the world know it. Nordic countries are full of mysticism, opportunities, ancient legends and the events that have affected the whole world, furthermore, there live the world’s strongest fairies and powerful psychics. Scandinavia is full of mysticism, the mysticism that even the strongest wise men, the cleverest witches and the world’s most powerful secret organisations cannot explain. Nordic countries are hiding a key to life that can be understood only by Scandinavians, the natives. Nordic countries have attracted the people all over the world by its opportunities, capacities, mystery and exquisite nature. Though, this nature and these opportunities only open up to those who wholeheartedly endorse this ecosystem. If you would like to be part of this mysticism, power and opportunities, you have to be a local resident, even an ancient local, only then can nature, the forces of nature and the country fully open itself up.
I’ll try to keep to the point, as I actually wanted to talk about my new investment – #NordicBloggers. The previous was like an introduction to the topic. At the moment the most important individuals affecting the world live in Scandinavia. The results of all search systems speak with one voice, the companies all over the world are looking for powerful bloggers, product advertisers and so-called influencers specifically from Nordic countries. BlogList24 is the web page that started to gather the strongest and most powerful bloggers in Nordic countries/ Scandinavia. NordenBladet bought 100% of the shares of BlogList24 last year and the brightest Scandinavian PR professionals put their heads together and created a brand named Nordic Bloggers. #NordicBloggers is a community that unites the best and most famous, most read and successful bloggers in Scandinavia. It is a sodality the member of which you can become with a special invitation and the aim of this is to maintain the quality and passion that is inherent in Nordic countries. Every tourist company would like to hire the members of #NordicBloggers to advertise their destinations and every private company or manufacturer would like to use the bloggers to popularise one’s brand. I am proud, happy and grateful to have #NordicBloggers in my portfolio of opportunities today.
NordenBladet — Following Finland’s centenary celebrations, This is FINLAND Magazine 2018–2019, the annual English-language publication showcasing Finnish expertise and experts, is turning its gaze far ahead into the future.
The magazine, which is distributed at Finland’s missions and especially in potential export markets and at export events through the Team Finland network, describes what the future may look like. It presents Finnish artificial intelligence expertise in fields such as healthcare and education, explains what Linda Liukas, Finland’s ambassador of coding, thinks about technology as a medium of self-expression, and introduces the basic income trial and its impact on the life of the participants.
The other theme chosen by the magazine is Finnish daily life, the best in the world. Anu Partanen, the author of The Nordic Theory of Everything, explains in her column what smooth daily life is like and Finnish people tell about their everyday sources of joy. We also investigated how people who have moved to Finland from abroad find Finnish working life.
How does Finland succeed in providing top-level education, a safe society and good opportunities for combining work and free time? It is all thanks to our education system, which teaches the Finns to solve problems at both local and global levels, writes Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General of the Finnish National Agency for Education.
The publication is targeted at international readers and aims at providing inspiring perspectives on Finnish expertise, innovations, education and way of life, as part of country branding. The magazine is distributed globally through the distribution channels of the editorial board and will also be published in German, French, Spanish, Chinese and Russian in March.
”Versatile tools are required in practical country branding. When we meet people in person, it is often not enough just to give them a web address that they can go to. We have to be able to offer something more concrete and in several languages,” says Petra Theman, Director of the Unit for Public Diplomacy from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. “I am especially grateful and proud that we have been able to produce this publication together with the expert organisations representing Finnish know-how and innovations.”
This is FINLAND Magazine is published by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Business Finland, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and the Finnish National Agency for Education. Otavamedia OMA is responsible for the production of the magazine.
NordenBladet – I have been riding a wave for some time and now I have to admit that failure and setbacks are ingredients of success. A plane flying high has to land at some point and should be refueled, as endless flying is just not possible. The same thing is with me. I work alone and successfully by doing the work of a whole team of an editorial.
The same thing is with our co-authors, we have done impossible with our small team by taking OHMYGOSSIP under a huge Scandinavian media group and made OHMYGOSSIP into one of the most famous entertainment webs. OHMYGOSSIP is read in Estonia, and we have struggled our way to the top of Scandinavian most read publications, and we are known in Brasilia and America.
Now, functioning under NordenBladet, we have closed several Scandinavian offices on behalf of optimal management, and we are trying to do the same in the joint cooperation between NordenBladet and OHMYGOSSIP – it is the key to success – Helena-Reet. Helena-Reet is a wizard who solves all the problems smoothly. I am at the point where I feel that I have given too much, I have given up my life and my private life. Do not misunderstand me; I love my work and enjoy it in full, but as a person and as a woman I feel that there could be something more. My relationship with my partner is on thin ice and my nerves and capabilities are strained to the max, to the limit when a person feels that it is time to get something in return, not just to give.
Getting and giving is the next topic I would like to discuss. A lot of people have misunderstood my previous blog. I got a lot of feedback and now I am trying to answer to all of you at once. I do not hate poor people… I am not that rich myself… but I hate the approach of life and the mindset of poor people. I do not like the people who radiate negative energy and break the dreams of other people, the people who pull you down, not help you to build your life. I despise the people who eat the energy and waste the time of other people and wish to free-ride at the expense of others. I cannot stand the poor people who do not want to give anything but have their hands out to take from others and afterwards are always ready to humiliate and mock. No moral, no conscience, without other such qualities (my mother could continue this list for hours). There are many poor people who are mentally rich. Money is not wealth. Money means prosperity. A person with less money can be wealthier than a person who has more money, in other words, a person can be rich having no penny in one’s pocket and poor a person who has a golden toilet knob.
Let’s get back to success and setbacks. I feel that I have reached a point where I am destroying myself and others around me, and I am turning to this poor and bitter person who is making everyone else as miserable as I am, if I do not change anything in my life. I do not want to be this narrow-minded, bitter and bad person who sees only bad things, not good, the latter has happened to me quite a lot lately. I do not notice good things and hurt the people who do not deserve it at all. No one hurts others as much as we hurt ourselves.
Negativity kills you and your friends around you. I have reached the point where I have to admit to myself that I am stuck, I need to restart my life, I need a vacation, I need acknowledgement and probably a good … ah, let’s leave it there.
Please forgive me whom I have hurt. I am planning to get better and not to remain this bitter and overworked bitch who I have lately been.
NordenBladet — Minister for Nordic Cooperation Anne Berner has invited Master of Laws Kimmo Sasi to represent Finland in the Freedom of Movement Council, a body under the Nordic Council of Ministers, for the years 2018 and 2019. Each of the Nordic countries and the Åland Islands, Greenland and the Faroe Islands have one member in the Freedom of Movement Council. Risto E. J. Penttilä, CEO of the Finland Chamber of Commerce, was Finland’s representative from 2015 until 2017.
The Freedom of Movement Council started its activities in 2014. The Nordic governments set it up to promote freedom of movement in the Nordic region for private people and companies by means of revising regulations and practices that hamper movement of people or cross-border activities of companies in the Nordic countries. Thanks to the work of the Freedom of Movement Council, several cross-border barriers affecting the labour market and the social and education sectors have been removed.
Sasi has served in the Nordic Council of Ministers and in the Nordic Council in the period1987–2015, and he held the Presidency of the Nordic Council in 2012.
NordenBladet – I read the article in the ERR portal, “From the flamboyant number of designers of Estonia only a few have managed to break into the World arena” in which it was written that the number of Estonian designers is steadily increasing, but in the world only a small part of them has been able to make a breakthrough.
An example was provided (read the article HERE) that 110 designers came up with their work in the Design Craft Gallery in December, but only a few Estonian designers managed to capture Europe or the world. “This is not a big success story at the moment, but it’s just that you first have to make your name at home and get recognized and then go out to the World,” explained Maris Orav, Communications Manager at the Design Center.
In order to break out of Estonia, continuous work is needed on this matter, but in comparison with Europe, our designers also have less support from the state, stood in the article and only one success story was presented. “Fashion designer Marit Ilison is one of the success stories of recent years, whose design is currently on sale at 16 stores abroad.” It was added that Ilison decided to collect the fame immediately abroad. “We decided to go abroad right away,” said Peeter Ilison, Marit Ilison’s brand manager.
Is there really only one success story in Estonia? Is it really so that you need to be famous at home first? I do not think so. Especially because it is relatively unprofitable to affirm in Estonia because of a small market and Estonia is doing everything to kill its last enterpreneurial people and businesses. And what is the definition of success at all? Is successful the person/brand whom the world knows, who earns more, whose clothing is seen on celebrities, whose models walk on fashion weeks, whose designs are most recognized or have more stores open? Without a lot of effort, I happen to know a lot of great successful Estonian designers abroad who have successfully met one or another of the success criteria mentioned above – among them Ohmygossip Couture brand, which I own and marketing abroad (in Brazil, Scandinavia), because in Estonia usually everything new is oppressed. I’m not, of course, a designer and do not qualify for this title, this is not the best example here, and Ohmygossip Couture is my “side project”, but the numbers speak about success, and I can say that it is definitely a success story. I want to say that there are a lot of success stories in Estonia (both tiny, big and very large) and these should be recognized. We have to keep and acknowledge our people!
However, it must be accepted that the Estonian state does not support self made people or designers with university diploma or representatives in other areas. The Estonian state does everything to stop small businesses – both in terms of taxes and (non existing ) subsidies, as in the form of empty bureaucracy. The EAS (Enterprise Estonia), which should be a big friend of the companies, has, over the years, gained popularity mainly with spinning skills and spellbinding policy. Support was received by the President (former President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, OÜ Eramaa scandal), support was received by the Prime Minister’s wife (former Prime Minister Taavi Rõiva’s wife Luisa Värk received a solid sum for her companies, Rahvusdisain OÜ and OÜ Noodivõti), subsidies are given to strange companies which, after being paid a subsidy, within a year will fill in the documentation, but after that cease to exist. Without “bribes,” you cannot get close to a honey pot – the talent or serious work is here entirely secondary criteria. The talent does not count. Be an athlete, be a designer, musician or do something else. Estonia should think very seriously about the fact that young people know that the world is open to talented people and if you are better welcomed elsewhere than at home, then the enterpreneur stays abroad and launches the new company where it has a chance to survive. The question is not that people do not have patriotism or love for their homeland. The question is, however, that in order to survive, decisions must be taken that are often not as pleasurable as may be desired by perhaps the first preference of the heart.
I invite you to support, help and recognize the talents of your country! I promise that I also publish and recognize the talent and good people in NordenBladet’s pages, because at present, only those who have “bought” mediocre journalists in the mainstream media are striking out. Each country is as strong as its people – and the Estonian people are good, caring and tough! Let’s keep and love each other and hope that our politicians and distributors of the money from our state and Europe will one day open their eyes and look beyond their own bottle tray.
NordenBladet – All my life I have said to myself that poor people are honest and good but the truth is that they are bitter, envious and mean. My parents have raised me in a spirit that poor people are nice and honest. But are they really? In my opinion, there is nothing to admire in a poor person and while speaking about a poor person I do not mean a person who has little money but the person who is not able to dream anymore and has lost one’s self-confidence.
A poor person does everything to make also other people fade away, give up their dreams and just give in. A poor person complains and accuses everyone, and he or she does not like anything. A poor person is always whining and looking for a person to blame for one’s fucked up life (Excusez moi!). A poor person hates work and is honest only in fairy tales. A poor person is a loser who wants to spread one’s bad mood like a plaque, he or she is bitter and does not remember anything good, just bad.
An envious poor person is poor because he/she is dumb and jealous. Envy makes you stupid and stupidity envious. A smart person can see further and likes cooperation, he/she is not greedy and likes sharing. In addition, I have noticed that a rich person is a lot more hard-working and caring than a poor person. A poor person is complaining while a rich person is solving problems. A rich person sees life positively, he/she is creative and kind. The rich stick together, whereas the poor keep bragging. In other words, a rich person is kind and happy because everything is fine. But whose fault is that? Are the rich guilty in having a nice life and coping well?
Why am I writing about this? Because sadly to say, I have lost faith in commoners as I have been repeatedly disappointed in them. I do not want to generalize, but I am sad, that the play titled Mindless by Jaan Tätte is 100% about real life. I just do not understand why the play is advertised as a comedy. I think it is depressing. The poor people try to get a free-ride at the rich’s expense and when they do not benefit directly from it, they turn their backs. The poor do not have any aims, priorities, nor moral. No dreams. You may hate me, if you would like to, but I find the world to be fucked up. People’s values are fake and wrong, I do not know whom to believe or not. All the people want is money, nothing is sacred to anyone anymore.
I just want peace and quiet…
and to pat my cat …
I am so disappointed in people at the moment.
Dot. The end.
Featured image: Lovely picture about my dream Estonia – simple but never poor (specially in the heart).
