The visit was arranged in cooperation with the Finnish Embassy in Paris, Turku Music Festival and Visit Turku. The visit was hosted by Ambassador Teemu Tanner.
At the event, around 70 representatives of culture, tourism and business were present, including several notable cultural influencers, tour operators, and French media representatives. Consequently, Turku will host several Frech journalists in summer 2018.
Especially Turku's high-level cultural scene, including music and food, were well noted durin the evening. The Parisians also found Turku's archipelago, the largest and the most bautiful in the world, an alluring feature.
Turku was introduced in Paris as a cradle of culture, as the capital of the most beautiful archipelago in the world and as the engine for the strong economic growth in today’s Finland. High-class performances from the repertoire of the Turku Music Festival, celebrating its 60th anniversary next year, was played by French musicians during the event.
Turku has a new mayor and is systematically expanding its international operations.
“Our vision is that we will move from our role of being a national big city into being a significant European city. And we aim at making Turku an appealing place to live in and to invest in, including for international experts. We cooperate in the Baltic Sea community, and our actions have an impact on areas outside of Finland, says the Mayor of Turku Minna Arve.
“The strong cooperation in Turku between our city, businesses, institutions of higher education and other operators for the benefit of the entire area will be emphasised in Paris as well as in other international work and communication. This is a great asset for Turku,” adds Arve.
In addition to introducing the Turku culture at the event, the strategic objectives of Turku were discussed. Attention was paid especially to reacting to climate change by speeding up the realisation of carbon neutrality objectives and preventing inequality and social marginalisation.
The circular economy, cleantech and green growth are essential aspects in Finland’s success in the future. Turku and Southwest Finland already have extensive expertise and business operations in these fields and the successful energy and climate activities of the City of Turku have achieved recognition and made the city a national pioneer among the biggest cities.
“In 2029, our city will be 800 years old. By then, Turku will have become one of the first carbon neutral cities both in Finland and in the whole world. When realised, this will be a truly remarkable achievement on a global scale, and Turku has a strong focus on reaching this goal,” emphasises Mayor of Turku Minna Arve.
Turku, which will soon celebrate its 800th anniversary, is also a pioneer in suburban politics, a city with the happiest residents of all of Finland’s big cities.
“Social inequality between different suburban areas and neighbourhoods is being tackled more efficiently than ever, making Turku a great place to live both now and in the future,” adds Arve.
