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18.12.2002 Markus Lehtipuu KARELIA COULD BE EUROPE’S MOST LUCRATIVE INVESTMENT AREA It's a land in between: Karelia, a former Finnish territory, now under Russian administration. Could it become one of Europe's most lucrative new investment areas? Why not? To the east there is St Petersburg, a five-million metropole, and the vast Russian land mass. Moscow is not too far either. To the west is Finland, one of the most competitive economies in the world, and the only one in Northern Europe to use the common euro currency. Could this become an interesting investment scenario? An aggressive attack by Stalin in 1939 turned the prosperous Finnish Karelia, with over 200 factories, including such giants as Enso (today's Stora-Enso) and Hackmann, into a battle field. The following ethnic cleansing (over 99.9 % of Finnish citizens fled to western Finland to become refugees until today and into a distant future) turned the attractive Finnish Karelia into a declining war booty of collective farms and military bases. After 1991, almost all of former Soviet installations were abandoned, vandalised and left alone. Today there are more ruins in the former Karelia than in Kabul, yet, the ruins were not created by a war! There is devastation, hunger and suffering. Karelia is to become a human catastrophe! Could this decay and suffering be reversed? There are increasing voices in Finland to demand for the return of the occupied Finnish territory (over 12 % of the total Finnish area) to make it the investment centre for northern Europe. Why not? The cheap labor of St Petersburg is next door (but too far from the present border), there is hydroelectric power and enormous possibilities for tourism. Finland is one of the leading countries in many industries, and is backed by the European Union internal market. Just the retail market for the 5 million Russians 30 minutes from the (old legitimate) border would be enough to convince any investor, not to mention the cheap labor costs of Russia. The ProKarelia movement is actively working for creation of dialogue between the EU and Russia, in order to reverse Stalin's crimes against humanity and the ethnic cleansing of Finnish Karelia, to create one of the most lucrative investment areas in Europe, the Finnish Karelia, by promoting its return to be administered by Finland and the European Union.  ^ Takaisin ylös  Lisää artikkeleita kirjoittajalta
Artikkeli-arkisto
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