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| Finnish American Chamber of Commerce, Florida Newsletter |
April 2012
Issue 4 Volume 3 |
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Greetings!
even that the consumer confidence falls two points from previous month and gas prices are creeping up for the summer we see many positive signs for Florida.
Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent, the lowest since February 2009. Palm Beach County being the second lowest with a rate of 9.2 percent, still behind Broward County with its 7.9 percent.
The international trade is booming, with that Forth Lauderdale is expanding its runway, cruise terminals are renovated and ports expanded.
Education also remains a major economic driver, and tourism bounced back with 85.9 million visitors in 2011.
We were also thrilled to see that Alexander Stubb, Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade visited NY and CA with some 30 Finnish start up companies. Of course we would love to welcome him to Florida next time with 30 or more companies!
At your service,
FACC-FL President
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Economic news from Florida |  Port Everglades plans $54M renovation of cruise terminals
Port Everglades has announced plans for a $54 million renovation of its four cruise terminals. The renovated cruise terminals will feature two passenger-loading bridges, separate and large baggage halls and improved ground transportation areas. The renovated cruise terminals will also enable ships to embark and debark at the same time. Read more here.
Floridian's consumer confidence falls again
Consumer confidence among Floridians fell two points to 74 in march from 76 in February, according to a University of Florida surveys. "The pattern of consumer confidence from December to February was exactly the same as last year," said Chris McCarty, director of UF's Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. Read more here.
South Florida foreclosure, 90 day delinquincy rates down in January
South Florida's foreclosure rate declined, year-over-year, in January, but is still significantly higher than the national rate, according to a CoreLogic report. Read more here.
Export assistance for Florida´s Marine Industry
Enterprise Florida is offering export assistance for the Marine Industry. Learn more about those opportunities here.
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News from Finland | 
Microsoft and Nokia invest up to €18 million in mobile app development program at Aalto University
Microsoft Corp. and Nokia will each invest up to 9 million euros into newly established mobile development program at Aalto University during next three years. AppCampus is intended to attract thousands of application proposals from students and entrepreneurs from all over the world.
Angry Birds strikes a deal with Walmart in US
Rovio, the developer of Angry Birds, has struck a deal with Walmart, the largest retail chain in the US, and one of the biggest supermarket chains in the world. Walmart is offering special edition t-shirts, plush toys, and even specially packaged snack foods featuring Angry Birds. Read more here.
Finland trending better than Europe
Europe is predicted to show zero growth in 2012. However, Finland's outlook is slightly better, and mild growth is expected. There is the solid purchasing power in Finland's most important export markets, the low unemployment rates, the good state of economy and the AAA credit rating. Challenges include the uncertain outlook for the global economy, which means that industries are hesitating to invest and consumer confidence is low. Read more here.
Minister Stubb visited the United States with 30 Finnish start-up companies
The Finnish Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb traveled to the US with representatives from 30 Finnish start-up companies. The purpose of the trip was to provide increased exposure to Finnish start-up companies and to help them to establish contact with key clients and financial institutions. Read more here.
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Expatriate Finns - a Resource for Finland
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In conjunction with the Finnish Expatriate Parliamentary Session in October 2012, Finland Society (Suomi-Seura) is organizing a seminar entitled "Networks abroad. Expatriate Finns as a Resource for Finland". As part of the seminar Finland Society is conducting a survey on whether expatriate Finns are willing and able in their own community to aid Finnish companies in their work in foreign markets. They are very gratefully accepting all thoughts on this topic, also from those who are not able to participate in the actual meeting in Helsinki in October. All information, experiences and opinions are very helpful in this important work. Your answers will naturally be treated confidentially and you can also answer the questions anonymously. The questions are in Finnish but you are more than welcome to answer in English!
Survey:  FEP web page on the seminar: Please email info@usp.fi for questions and feedback. Once more, thank you for your participation!
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Membership News
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Renewal Member
Conects - Conect Oy is a project services company,that specializes in the construction and real estate-related project management, construction management and project development. Conect offers a variety of real estate services also in the United States.
Conect the U.S. subsidiary, Conect, LLC, offers a Finnish real estate and mortgage investment services in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The first stage of Conect concept includes research real estate and residential sites. In case of interest, Conect organizes a visit to the site in Florida and in other parts of the United States.
http://www.conect.fi/
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ABiCC World Business Month
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Inauguration of the ABiCC World Business Month 2012.
Networking opportunity with some 400 international members with wine, food and liquor tasting.
Date: Monday April 30th, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.
RSVP: news@abicc.org
Remember to take lots of business cards to with you!
As a member of FACC you are automatically a member of a large pool of business people in S. Florida. You are also a member of ABiCC, the Association of Bi-National Chambers of Commerce in Florida and welcome to join any of their networking events.
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We hope you find this newsletter useful and we love to get feedback and suggestions how we can make it better. We also have many volunteer opportunities within the chamber so let us know how you want to be involved.
Find us at Facebook , Twitter and
LinkedIn and join the discussion.
Sincerely,
Lena Hartikainen
Finnish American Chamber of Commerce
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