Prime Minister to visit areas worst affected by Nokia redundancies
Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen has cancelled a scheduled visit to Brazil next week. Instead he will travel to the towns of Oulu and Salo, hardest hit by this week’s announcement of major redundancies by mobile phone manufacturer Nokia.
He said new opportunities must be found for the people and areas affected.
“This has been a blow to national self esteem, which I have also felt in my own heart,” he admitted. He added that while he understood economic restructuring, the news had been tough to swallow.
Speaking at the National Coalition Party’s conference in Rovaniemi he announced he was cancelling his visit to Brazil and his scheduled to attendance at the Rio climate change conference. Instead he wanted to visit Salo and Oulu and tell those affected by the job cuts they would not be left to fend for themselves.
Katainen’s place at the Rio conference will be taken by Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja.
The Prime Minister encouraged those being made redundant to use their skills in the future. He reminded that some 9,000 IT-firms exist in Finland.
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