Online Desk: Finland is planning to hire young talents from Bangladesh in some sectors, particularly IT and healthcare as the number of the ageing population is on rise in the Nordic country.

Dr Tito Gronow, minister and deputy head of mission at Finland Embassy in New Delhi said this in an interview with UNB during his recent visit to Bangladesh.

He was in Dhaka from Wednesday to Friday last.

“Finland is eager to develop a programme for trying to find young talents with its Talent Boost programme particularly in IT, healthcare but also some other sectors to attract the people to come to Finland,” he said.

Under the programme, Finland will recruit manpower from Bangladesh for its healthcare sector as the ageing population is on rise in the Nordic country, he said.

“We need more people for our healthcare sector and you (Bangladesh) have a very young population. So, this actually is a good match,” said Dr Gronow.

Noting that there are already a good number of Bangladeshi students in Finland, he said “I can imagine that there will be more students who come to Finland (from Bangladesh) in future.

About the bilateral relations, the Finnish diplomat said the current relationship is very good. “Our aim is to increase trade between the countries. We’ve an ambition to have more Finnish companies in the Bangladesh market,” he said.

Dr Gronow also said they’ve discussed with several Bangladeshi companies particularly textile companies for expanding European activities to Finland.

In the next autumn, there will be a political consultation between Finland and Bangladesh here in Dhaka. The delegation will be a combination of political and business delegations, he said.

“Our main objective here in Bangladesh is to improve our trade relations. We see a huge potential in Bangladesh in many sectors. Our priority is very much in digitalization, IT, 5G and 6G and different kinds of digital solutions,” he said.

He said Finland can help Bangladesh make traditional manufacturing industries to digital modern industries in the era of 4th industrial revolution.

“In textile industry, you’ve already invested in environmental technology and we’ve environmental solutions to offer to Bangladeshi industries, ” he said, adding that Finland is also interested in developing a partnership with Bangladesh in the educational sector.

The Finnish diplomat, who had made his first visit to Bangladesh, said Finland is interested in strengthening cooperation with Bangladesh in textiles, recycling of materials and water. “Probably emerging cooperation is in the shipyard,” he said.

About export of Bangladesh products to Finland, he said Bangladeshi companies should be more active in negotiating with Finnish companies to have a partnership in this regard.

Describing Finland as a good technology harbour, he said Bangladesh can import from Finland 5G/6G technology, clean energy solutions, machinery, lifts and cranes, which could be a good solution to the needs of Bangladesh.

“We’ve great variety of different kinds of environment-friendly technological solutions that are needed for industries in Bangladesh,” he said.

Turning to the Rohingya issue, Dr Gronow said the situation is alarming. It is already the seventh year of the refugee crisis. Finland is willing to help solve this issue of course diplomatically in a peaceful way. But it seems to take still more time, he added.