OREANDA-NEWS. May 13, 2009. Speaking at a seminar on Estonia in Helsinki, Estonia's Minister of Economy and Communications Juhan Parts called on Finnish businesspeople to invest in Estonia again.

"The Estonian business environment is good as before, there's great freedom of enterprise, and the workforce is competent and competitive. Now that the wage level is lower than before as well, it's the right time to invest in Estonia," Parts said in his speech at the Helsinki city government.

He said it was important today to look at cooperation between Estonia and Finland with a fresh eye. There are opportunities for joint research and development work, and common cross-border business clusters are also needed, said the Estonian minister.

Parts emphasized Estonia's consistency in the drive to switch to the euro, the need to restructure the economy so that it was more capable of producing for export, and outlined programs and opportunities for supporting foreign investments and export.

Parts also highlighted the special place that Finland has as Estonia's economic partner.

The minister's visit to Finland kicked off with an appearance on the morning talk show of MTV3 television, where he once again reaffirmed that no one is planning to devalue the Estonian kroon.