One of the directions of St. Petersburg strategy in the area of external foreign relations is founding and development of Information business centers abroad. The main purpose of founding of these centers is the formation of the positive image of St. Petersburg in foreign countries, assistance in the intensification of international and external economic relations of the city with the government bodies and organizations in foreign countries.
Centers represent permanent expositions with the information about St. Petersburg. Their personnel provides a rapid “feed back” to obtain, if necessary, a more detailed information about the areas of interest. Centers render consulting and marketing services.
In addition to centers in Finland (towns of Kotka, Turku, Hameenlinna and Jyvaskyla) and in Estonia (towns of Rakvere and Kohtla-Jarve) the Committee for External Relations has established centers in Germany (Hamburg), France (Paris), Ukraine (Kiev), USA (New-York), Latvia (Riga), Armenia (Yerevan), Italy (Osimo), Norway (Oslo).
Developing and establishing St. Petersburg Information business centers abroad is an important part of the activities of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg. Since 2004, this activity has been regulated by the Decrees of the Government in which general objectives and goals are formulated and also the regulations for establishing and functioning of these centers are described.

From the geographical point of view Finland and Estonia are the nearest to Russia members of the European Union. This explained an intensive development of economic relations and crossborder cooperation of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region with these countries.
St. Petersburg information business centers established in these countries play an important role in the development of this cooperation. At present, in Finland and Estonia six official iInformation business centers are functioning: in Finland – in the towns of Kotka (Kymenlaakso region), Turku (Turku region), Hameenlinna (Hame region) and Jyvaskyla (region of Central Finland); in Estonia – in the towns of Kohtla-Jarve (Ida-Virumaa region) and Rakvere (region Laane-Virumaa).
The structure and subordination of these centers are different. The common feature is that all of them serve to promote St. Petersburg’s image and develop the economic cooperation of St. Petersburg enterprises (first of all, small businesses and individual entrepreneurs) with companies and entrepreneurs of respective regions in Finland and Estonia.
Operator of canters LLC "Business-Contacts" (BIZKON) represents in St. Petersburg the centers in Kotka, Turku, Hameenlinna, Rakvere and Kohtla-Jarve (According to the Decrees of St. Petersburg govemment №36 dated 19.01.2006, №248 dated 20.06.2008 and №1551 dated 12.12.2008).