Round table meeting between the Prime Minister of Finland, Minister of Economic Affairs, Minister of the Environment, Minister of Labour, senior executives of mining and technology companies and other invited senior officials adopted today a joint objective to make Finland the leading country on sustainable mining. The position paper as well as the architecture of the round table was prepared by Gaia Consulting on the assignment from the Strategic Programme for Cleantech of the Government of Finland.
Mining and mineral cluster is a significant opportunity for Finland. The employment and investment the cluster provides are promising. The development of the cluster is supported by the Finnish mining technology excellence which already provides solutions to globally growing extractive industry. Strict environmental norms, and application of the best available technology, help to minimize environmental impacts and foster dynamic growth of cleantech business in Finland.
Finland wants more mining, but not at any cost. The round table agreed that only mining industry which respects sustainable development and acts responsibly is welcome to Finland. The meeting highlighted the need to earn the social license to mine. Representatives of the industry pointed out that those companies that perform best in terms of environmental management and safety, generate also best economic results.
Finland is an open part of global economy, and foreign companies bring knowledge, experience and investment capital to Finland. The meeting underlined to need to maintain clear and well-functioning environmental and social norms, protect our clean diverse nature, and strengthen our good governance, democracy and transparency. These are fundamental building blocks to make Finland a good place to invest in mining.
The round table agreed to continue the dialogue between stakeholders and work towards a joint vision for 2030. A series of meetings will be organized to develop an action plan towards sustainable mining 2030.
“The meeting of today, as well as the preparatory meetings signal strong support to sustainable mining throughout the society. Achieving economically, socially and environmentally sustainable mining is challenging, but the positive energy and good-will of the meeting today provide solid foundation and gives means for ambitious collaboration between the key stakeholders”, says Pasi Rinne, Chairman of the Board of Gaia.
Read more on the Ministry of Employment and the Economy’s newsletter 25.10.2012 and the discussion document (in Finnish)
For further information:
- Pasi Rinne, Chairman of the Board, tel. +41 79 472 6909
