he history of the internationalisation of the city of Oulu began as early as 1605 with the founding of the city. After the trading embargo in the Gulf of Bothnia was removed, trade became free and the sailing fleet of Oulu grew in the 1860's to be the largest in Finland. Back then the most important exports from Oulu were furs, salmon and later also tar which was used throughout the world to protect wooden ships. Today the basic idea behind the city's international activities is to develop Oulu into the leading centre of competence for the entire northern Europe. The "tar" of the city of Oulu today, is internationally competitive high level know-how and ability. Oulu has Finland's second largest university and many public and private research institutes. The region is well known for its rapidly growing high technology industry which sells its products throughout the world. The city is thus also an international growth centre. Oulu is located on the Northern part of the Baltic Sea with good communication links to the largest European centres and its airport is the second busiest in Finland. In conclusion, the city is a natural gateway to the Euroarctic Barents region. The strong and well developed infrastructure of Oulu offers flexible links both to Europe and to the Northern regions of North-West Russia.