Finnish Minister Promotes Defence Tech Ties With Australia During Trade Visit

Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio offered ICEYE satellite defence capabilities as an example of greater trade and defence cooperation between Finland and Australia during a visit last week with a delegation of Finnish companies.

ICEYE was chosen by the Australian government in 2023 to provide real-time support for disaster management. Its flood products have been used by more than 75 organisations across Australia, including in response to ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which swept across two states in 2025.

The company already maintains commercial ties in Australia providing satellite-derived hazard intelligence to the banking and utilities sectors. ICEYE said it saw clear alignment between its technology and Australia's defence strategies. "We are actively exploring opportunities to work with Australian partners to support both sovereign capability and broader use of space‐based intelligence," an ICEYE spokesperson said.

Tavio, who met with Australian cabinet members including Trade Minister Don Farrell and Industry Minister Tim Ayres, said research and cooperation between the two countries would mean faster development of technologies. "I think our defence cooperation will be very technological in nature," he said.

He added that the relationships Australia and Finland had already formed in the mining and quantum sectors also could advance further.

"In satellites, the Finnish company ICEYE is a good example. It provides the highest quality of data for the military as well as commercial applications. And that's something that Australia might be interested in," Tavio said.

Australia and Finland's trade relationship to date has focused on resources and telecommunications and, more recently, quantum technologies. Finland is a world leader and expanding manufacturer of high-tech defence technologies including armoured vehicles, mortar systems, and cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

The push for closer ties comes as Finland shares a long land border with Russia.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine occurred in 2022. That conflict prompted Finland to drop decades of staunch non-alignment dating back to the Cold War and join NATO. Finland has been a major provider of assistance to Ukraine.

"We support the sovereignty of a sovereign country. It is very important that the whole world understands the illegal nature of the full-scale war on a neighbouring country," Tavio said. While there has been increasing anxiety in Western Europe about Russian attacks beyond Ukraine, particularly after drones linked to Russia were seen over several European airports, Tavio said he saw no direct threat to Finland at present.

"Finland and the Nordics are pretty well prepared," he said. "Finland never stopped its preparedness for defence. " The minister said Russia's transformation into a war economy would be to its longer-term detriment because it had become isolated from the technological transformation occurring elsewhere in the world.

He endorsed the push for NATO countries to boost their spending to 5 per cent of GDP and said it had been a good thing that the United States had pushed Europe to spend more on defence. "But of course, the style with which the Trump administration is doing that often can be found to be rather offensive," Tavio said.

The US imposed tariffs on the EU and therefore on Finland in the wake of US President Donald Trump's Liberation Day.

Despite those measures, Tavio said Finland's trade with America had remained pretty stable. "The USA has remained one of our top trading partners. It is the most important trading top partner outside the EU," he said.

Tavio noted that Australia is the fifth-largest trade partner outside of Europe. He said the wars in Ukraine and Iran both led to the conclusion that geopolitics has been changing in a way that we should find the most like-minded countries and work together more. Abc reported that Tavio spoke during the Australian leg of the trade mission that also included New Zealand.