"The growth of our trade turnover can continue. The prerequisites for this involve the diversification of our cooperation, including in the sphere of high technology," Vanhanen said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Putin said that Finland remained a key partner for Russia in Europe both in terms of shared borders and trade.
"In the first half [of 2008], Russia became Finland's top partner, overtaking Germany in many indicators," Putin said.
In January-June 2008, trade between Russia and Finland amounted to 9.1 billion euros ($11.5 billion), including Russian exports of 5.4 billion euros ($6.8 billion) 35% up from the same period last year, and imports of 3.7 billion euros ($4.7 billion) - up 23%.
In 2007, bilateral trade grew 8% to 15 billion euros ($18.9 billion), with Russia's exports to Finland hitting 8.3 billion euros ($10.5 billion) and Finnish imports into Russia standing at 6.7 billion euros ($8.4 billion).
Raw materials and energy products account for 88% of Russia's exports to Finland. Russia's imports from Finland include machinery, equipment and transport vehicles (more than 50%), raw materials (22%), and chemical goods (13%).
