On March 22, 2010, Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, and Tarja Halonen, President of Finland, ran meeting with the representatives of business circles of Finland at Konstantinovskiy Palace. The meeting was attended by Valentina Matvienko, Governor of St.Petersburg, Sergei Ivanov, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, Economic Development Minister, and CEOs of Nokia, Nokian Tires, Fortum and several other Finnish companies.
On March 22, 2010, Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, and Tarja Halonen, President of Finland, ran meeting with the representatives of business circles of Finland at Konstantinovskiy Palace. The meeting was attended by Valentina Matvienko, Governor of St.Petersburg, Sergei Ivanov, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, Economic Development Minister, and CEOs of Nokia, Nokian Tires, Fortum and several other Finnish companies.
Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, expressed his satisfaction that a direct dialogue with the representatives of Finnish business started to be held on a regular basis. Tarja Halonen, President of Finland, said that Finland gave special importance to cooperation with all Russia, but in the bordering regions, particularly in St.Petersburg, this cooperation was the most natural.
Valentina Matvienko, Governor, emphasized that St.Petersburg was always happy to cooperate with the Finnish business and thanked Tarja Halonen for the assistance in solving the environmental problems (a project to build South-West Wastewater Treatment Plant is implemented and the construction of main collector of the northern part of the town is now under completion).
Earlier on that day, "Vodokanal St.Petersburg" hosted a round table on environmental cooperation of St.Petersburg and Finland, with the participation of Tarja Halonen, President of Finland, and Valentina Matvienko, Governor of St.Petersburg, within the framework of the Day of Baltic Sea. The round table was attended by F.V. Karmazinov, Director General of Vodokanal St.Petersburg, Jari Luoto, Ambassador of Finland over the Baltic Sea issues, Jussi Pajunen, Mayor of Helsinki, and D.A. Golubev, Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, Environmental Protection and Ecological Safety.
President Tarja Halonen mentioned that current St.Petersburg efforts in the protection of Baltic Sea could be a model for other cities of the Baltic rim. Today, St.Petersburg is no longer among the pollutants of Baltic Sea. Before 1978, the waste waters of Leningrad never were purified - they dumped directly into urban rivers and canals, while now 91% of all the city sewage undergoes purification.
Source: Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg