SPEECH BY PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC MARTTI AHTISAARI
AT THE EXPORT AWARDS PRESENTATION CEREMONY
AT THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE IN HELSINKI ON 17.2.1999

I have the honour to present three successful Finnish companies with the President’s Export Award. The winners have succeeded excellently in their efforts to export their products. That in itself is a significant achievement, but it is not the only ground for conferring the award, nor even the most relevant one. These companies deserve the award first and foremost because of the exemplary way in which they seized the opportunities that internationalisation has created.

The management and entire personnel of the prize-winning companies made a timely observation that the international environment in which they operate was changing, correctly assessed the needs that flow from this and then created successful business operations on this basis. Yet they are not only international, but also Finnish. They are Finnish in origin, their products are based on Finnish innovation and - most importantly - their success benefits the Finnish economic sector in its entirety. Only successful and competitive companies can sustainably provide employment and increase the prosperity of the Finns.

It is no longer enough for products to be good and prices competitive. Companies must be able to master global business in all its aspects, they must be able to develop and apply new ways of doing things and manage the risks that are inevitably associated with internationalisation and growth.

Companies must become genuinely involved in their customers’ operations and work together with them to ponder solutions to their problems. Products must offer the customer a real benefit. Matters that are becoming increasingly important in this respect include an ability to participate in the client’s operational processes, tailoring products and services to the customer’s needs, and developing and deepening customer relations into a mutually-beneficial partnership.

It was largely by increasing exports that Finland managed to pull out of the recession that hit us in the early years of the decade. That required determination and exceptionally broad cooperation. Also the President has tried to make his contribution to this collective effort. In collaboration with Finnish companies, numerous export promotion trips have been made to growing markets and countries where the assistance of the national leadership can be used to open new doors for our companies. A major export promotion trip to Mexico will take place next week, and then Finland and Finnish companies will have been made the focus of attention in all of the world’s main markets.

The President's Export Award was presented for the first time in 1967. Our linkage with the international economy was much more tenuous in those days than it is now, and founded on more conventional trade in goods. The winners in the early years were traditional exporters who had been exceptionally successful in marketing their products abroad. It is still important to encourage this kind of work, but no longer enough. The awards in recent years have gone to companies whose internationalisation goes beyond traditional exports. This development is positive and essential. It ought to be encouraged in every way. I now propose that we consider whether the name of the President’s Export Award and the grounds on which winners are chosen should be changed so that the award gives more encouragement to companies to internationalise broadly, in a way that benefits Finland and the Finns and helps create new jobs here. Could it be that in the millennium soon to begin it would be more appropriate for us to have a President’s Internationalisation Award? I hope this matter will be discussed.

I warmly congratulate the winners and wish them the best of success.