Slovakia Opens Honorary Consulate in Tampere; Harri Jaskari Serves as Consul

Tampere, 21 May (TASR-correspondent) - After nearly a decade, Slovakia is reopening its honorary consulate in Tampere, with Harri Jaskari set to serve as honorary consul in the southern Finnish city, and the consulate to focus primarily on economic diplomacy, Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) stated on Thursday during the consulate's opening ceremony as part of his working visit to Finland. "Tampere is a region that has undergone a massive transformation and is now essentially a hub for digitisation, artificial intelligence and various circular economy technologies. The honorary consulate in Tampere won't have consular duties but will focus primarily on strengthening the economic aspect of our diplomacy," said Blanar. According to Slovak diplomatic sources, the new honorary consul in Tampere Harri Jaskari has many years of experience in the fields of business policy, regional development and innovation support. Jaskari served as a member of the Finnish Parliament for 12 years; he was also the executive director of the Tampere Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the director of innovation policy at the Confederation of Finnish Industries. The main role of the honorary consulate in Tampere will be to connect Slovak and Finnish companies and identify suitable investment opportunities for businesses in both countries. am/df