Background
It is all about perspective. I moved back to Northern Europe some 1,5 years ago from the Middle East after almost 18 years there. In many ways it felt like coming home; Poland to me is very similar to Finland – food, some parts of the culture and even the business. On the other hand, I hear from many Finns how Poland is very different with a complex bureaucracy and challenging ways of doing business. Naturally Poland is a different from Finland and Nordics, refreshingly proud rising power in the heart of the Europe.
Why Poland matters?
I am particularly interested in developing the commercial cooperation between our nations and in this context, Poland is often overlooked. Let me give some background: In the first half of 2025 (January to June) Poland was the 6th largest good’s export destination for Finnish exporters (source: https://tilastot.tulli.fi/en/-/monthly-statistics-on-the-international-trade-in-goods-june-2025), Finnish companies employ tens of thousands of people in Poland and the trade is well balanced. Recently there were some examples of great cooperation in cutting edge technologies such as satellites and quantum computing: Iceye attracting investments from both Finnish and Polish governments via their investment vehicles but also significant orders from both countries to enhance European sovereignty.
Finns have traditionally traded with the neighbours. This was and still is natural since our economies with, especially, Sweden and Estonia are closely interlinked. Many of us still remember how Finland’s trade with Soviet Union was very significant, rising to 20-25% of our total exports. Those days are gone and now our trade with Russia is very low for good reasons. Achieving major growth in those neighbouring markets is, for a variety of reasons, quite challenging. Next neighbours such as Poland and Germany require a bit more effort in crossing the Baltic Sea, but markets are entirely different in size compared to, for example Nordic and Baltic countries.
Poland’s economic rise started in 1990s. In 1990s the starting level was very low, but the growth has been very rapid, in average 4,12% per year from 1992 to 2025 (projection for 2025). (source: IMF WEO 2025). In 2025 Poland is expected to climb to 20th place in the global GDP comparison and reaching “Trillion dollar club” as per Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. (Source: https://www.gov.pl/web/primeminister/poland-joins-the-trillionaires-club-a-historic-entry-into-the-worlds-top-20-economies).
Finnish exports to Poland have grown steadily during the 2000s but we have actually lost slightly our market share since the market growth has outpaced our efforts.
I want to highlight some specific areas in where we could seek for deeper cooperation and increase of the trade and prosperity.
Energy transition
Finland has succeeded, in my opinion, very well in achieving very green yet reliable and affordable energy. One weakness is relatively high volatility that is creating challenges especially for those electricity users who cannot time their energy use. However, in general energy in Finland is affordable.
In Poland the energy transition is still very much in the making, coal is still an important source of electricity. This, with for example on-going nuclear energy projects and ambitions is creating a long lasting and sizeable business opportunity.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
It is very unfortunate that our peace-loving nations need to spend a significant part of government budget on defence. In Poland the defence related spending is around 20% of the government budget in 2026 (around 5% of the GDP). This naturally is a huge figure in modern Europe and quite a burden for the state finances. The procurement and execution related to this need to be well balances and planned which I trust those are.
Finnish defence industry has a long track record of cooperation with Poland, most notably the Rosomak – program during past around 20 years. We aim to continue and widen this mutually beneficial cooperation that creates jobs, prosperity and security in both countries. In addition, the Finnish model of comprehensive security is very interesting in Poland and other CEE region countries. One important part of this is the civil security including the shelters.
All in all, the Baltic Sea region creates a natural region for very close cooperation in terms of trade, logistics and security as well as even closer cultural ties. This is increasingly important as the world is more unpredictable than ever.
Antti Rahikka
Director, Region Head
Business Finland
Finland
