A working group of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment examined the implementation of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government Programme’s entries on Team Finland’s operations. According to the Programme, the Government needs to reform the operations and management of the Team Finland network in cooperation with business and industry, strengthen the Foreign Ministry’s guiding role and examine whether Business Finland’s activities abroad could be incorporated into Finland’s network of diplomatic and consular missions.

The working group examined export promotion models of peer countries and identified best practices for the development of the Team Finland network. The working group found fragmented management to be a key shortcoming in Finland’s export promotion system, especially the management of the network abroad, which is dispersed across two different organisations.

The report proposes three solutions to simplify and enhance the management and export promotion activities of the Team Finland network. The report gives a preliminary assessment of the implementation of these solutions, including the necessary legislative amendments and an assessment of the advantages, disadvantages and risks of each solution. The report proposes the following solutions:

1. Reforming the management structure of the Team Finland network in Finland

2. Reforming the management structure of the Team Finland network in Finland andstrengthening the Foreign Ministry’s guiding role in the network abroad

3. Incorporating Business Finland’s activities abroad into the Foreign Service