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Trade Mission to Sweden & Finland
Sweden
With a population of more than 11M people, Sweden is the largest Nordic economy with a highly developed, transparent, and diversified market. In 2024, Sweden was Virginia’s 32nd largest trading partner. Virginia exports to Sweden in 2024 were valued at $130M. There was nearly a 45% increase in Virginia exports of goods to Sweden between 2023 to 2024. Sweden is outside of the Eurozone, but many companies in the country are more than happy to conduct business in U.S. dollars. Sweden also consistently ranks high for its connectivity, governance, investment in R&D, and business climate. This has led several foreign firms to establish operations in Sweden when looking to enter or expand into the Nordic and Baltic regions. The top exports from the U.S. to Sweden include aerospace/defense, automotive aftermarket, telecommunications equipment, healthcare/life sciences, information technologies, safety/security, clean-tech, industrial machines, and renewable energy.
Top opportunities for Virginia exporters in Sweden include:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Agriculture
- Cybersecurity
- eHealth
- Medical Equipment
- Smart Build Environment Technologies
Finland
Finland has been a member state of the European Union since 1995, and it is the only Nordic country that uses the Euro as its currency. Finland routinely ranks at the top of international surveys on education, quality of life, competitiveness, and transparency. The country has redefined itself from a quiet agriculture- and forestry-based economy to a trend-setting global center for technology and design. It has a vibrant start-up scene highlighted by high growth companies in critical and emerging technologies. Finland is highly integrated into the global economy, with international trade accounting for one-third of its GDP. In 2024, it had a population of approximately 6M, its GDP was $306B, and its nominal per capita GDP was $54,774. U.S. exports to Finland amounted to $3B in 2024 and were ranked 61st. Virginia’s exports to Finland in 2024 were valued at almost $9M and ranked 95th.
Top opportunities for Virginia exporters to Finland include:
- Agriculture
- Defense
- Energy
- Healthcare Technologies
- Information and Communication Technologies
- Safety and Security
- Strategic Technologies
- Travel and Tourism
Registration Deadline
Contact
Frequently Asked Questions
Based on past trade missions, we expect 6-10 Virginia companies to participate. The registration process is ongoing until the trade mission is full or the registration deadline has passed.
You must pay the trade mission participation fee of $2,500 to the VEDP at the time of registration. The participation fee includes the following:
- Identifying, contacting and pre-qualifying local distributors, reps and/or partners and organization of your meetings with interested prospects
- A “Doing Business In” briefing on the market(s)
- Your VEDP Trade Mission Leader and in-country consultant on hand during the week to ensure everything runs to plan
- Interpreter if needed
All travel expenses including airfare, hotels, meals, individual ground transportation to be paid directly by each participant. Additional estimated costs you will incur include (but are not limited to):
- Roundtrip airfare
- Hotels (7 nights)
- Meals
- Airport transfers, taxis, and other miscellaneous items
In most cases, you will be traveling independently to the locations of the local companies with which you are meeting. Because most appointments will be held at the companies’ locations, travel and other logistics may prevent each delegate from having a minimum of 3-4 meetings each day of the trade mission.
For travel between meetings, our consultants will recommend the most effective method of transportation. This will likely be a local car/driver.
If required, interpreters will be provided for meetings and are included in your registration fee.
Airline tickets: You book (and pay for) your own airline ticket via local travel agent or online air travel website. If you do not have a travel agent, the Trade Mission Leader can recommend one for you.
Hotels: VEDP will choose the hotel(s) and make reservations at a pre-negotiated government rate for each delegate. However, delegates will be responsible for their own hotel charges throughout the mission. All delegates will stay at the same hotel in order to facilitate logistics as well as to encourage the interaction and networking that is always a collateral benefit of traveling with a group. You will pay all hotel room charges directly to the hotel.
Contact your local International Trade Manager or the Trade Mission Leader immediately! We only want you to make the trip if we think there is good market potential for your company. We can perform exploratory market research within a short period of time to verify market potential for you.