Foreign direct investments in critical infrastructure a main theme at the meeting of Nordic prime ministers

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä attended a meeting of Nordic prime ministers held in Oslo on Wednesday. Topics on the agenda included foreign direct investments in critical infrastructure and current issues at the UN Security Council.

“People in Finland have positive views on foreign investments because they are of great importance to the Finnish economy and are currently on the rise. The critical infrastructure and services needed to maintain the vital functions of society must, however, be secured in a way that guarantees sufficient Finnish content in terms of both skills and the maintenance of systems,” Prime Minister Sipilä emphasised.

Technological development brings a new kind of critical infrastructure. “Authorities must monitor this development and ensure that it does not lead to direct risks or threats to society, either now or in the future,” Sipilä said.

The EU is currently working on a regulation establishing a framework for screening foreign direct investments. For Finland, it is important that the regulation does not create unnecessary delays in the monitoring and confirmation processes at the national level. Individual countries will continue to have the final say concerning investments.

Finland is currently preparing legislation related to national security in land use and the transfer of immovable property in connection with investments from outside the EEA. The government proposal is due to be submitted to Parliament before the end of the year.

Topical Security Council matters also on the agenda

The prime ministers heard about Sweden’s experiences during its term as President of the UN Security Council. “As a group of like-minded countries, the Nordic countries have the possibility to promote many issues they feel are important, such as mediation, sustainable development, human rights and women’s rights in particular, in their work in the UN. A multilateral system and cooperation are necessary if we want to solve global problems,” Prime Minister Sipilä stated.

Sipilä attends several bilateral meetings

Sipilä had a bilateral meeting on Wednesday morning with Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of host country Norway. Sipilä also met with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May yesterday evening and had meetings with Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas earlier on the trip. The meetings focused on bilateral relations and Finland’s upcoming EU Presidency. The discussion with May also addressed the topic of Brexit.

At the beginning of the week, Prime Minister Sipilä attended Nordic meetings and the Northern Future Forum seminar in Oslo.

As part of the “week of politics” programme organised in schools, youth representative Anna Enbuske from the organisation Finnish Youth Co-operation – Allianssi ry followed the Prime Minister and reported on the trip on Allanssi’s social media channels. Enbuske also had a video interview with the Prime Minister on Tuesday where she asked him questions submitted by youth. The video blog will be posted on Allianssi’s social media channels later this week.

Photos in the Government's Flickr photostream

Inquiries: Jani Raappana, Special Adviser (international affairs), tel. +358 295 160 306, Pekka Sinko (NFF meeting), General Secretary of the Economic Council, tel. +358 295 160 189, and Päivi Paasikoski, Assistant Head of Communications, Prime Minister’s Office, tel. +358 40 547 6279