teisipäev, oktoober 23, 2007

Quote of the Day

"First there's Sweden, and then there's nobody, and then there's nobody, and then there's Finland" --

Swedish businessman commenting about level of his country's investment in Estonia during a conversation with me last night.

8 kommentaari:

AndresS ütles ...

Off topic but Justin, you made Ekspress' Top20 blogs.

http://www.ekspress.ee/viewdoc/B940A2FA4287D676C225737D0026E435

congrats.

Unknown ütles ...

he is right...sweden counts for a bit more than 50% of foreign investments in estonia but only through ownership of hansa and ühis pank...the finns rank place two but also only because of their ownership of sampo and nordea pank...so, one can see that statistically the swedes dominate the investment ranking...i heard about plans that estonian government wants to buy hansapank, so that it will be a true estonian bank...

plasma-jack ütles ...

The current government? Where did you hear that one?

Estonia in World Media (Rus) ütles ...

To by Hansabank, given that it would cost some 5 bln EUR doesn't sound like a plan the government would consider. Or buying any bank..

Giustino ütles ...

I was surprised to learn that there are actually Estonian Swedes -- children of those who fled in 1944 -- who moved back and opened up businesses here. They also have set up a cultural autonomy, as of this past spring.

Doris ütles ...

Yeah, the Noarootslased. I've an Estonian friend who studied Swedish as a second language from primary school because she comes from the west coast and there's quite a number of Swedish speakers there.

Frank ütles ...

Spoke once to a distant cousin who was a junior diplomat at the Swedish Embassy in Tallinn, he said: there is no place on earth where it is so much fun to be a Swedish diplomat, nowhere else does Sweden matter the way it matters in Estonia.

German diplomats of vana-eestimaalased stock told me, this is because German money failed to invest although there was absolutely no lack of offers and incentives and backing of Estonian authorities, German investment was asked for to counterbalance the Swedes ...

A few years later a friend of mine (no family ties to the Baltics) who was more than willing to invest, had to move from Tallinn to Tartu, because he could not find a bank in Tallinn without Swedish interests heavily hampering the business relationship.

He is doing fine in Tartumaa.

Wally Kranich ütles ...

Wally claps with two sweaty hands for Blog Chief Giustino using Swedish inspired excuse to put pictures of sext Swedish girls. Wally enjoys biznis with Sweden in that manner if Blog Chief Giustino catches Wallys meaning.

Wally gives happy approval to Swedish biznis takeovers. Yet Wally wonders if Swedish biznismeni will run if Russia returns with "co-operation pact" proposals?