Minister for European Affairs Strand and Swedish Minister for EU Affairs Rosencrantz to meet in Umeå on Nordic Day

Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering Joakim Strand will be in Umeå, Sweden, for Nordic Day on 23 March. During the visit, Minister Strand will meet with Swedish Minister for EU Affairs Jessica Rosencrantz, and the two will take part in a panel discussion on the importance and future of Nordic cooperation in an age of global instability.

The ministers’ meeting will focus on cooperation between Finland and Sweden and topical EU issues. Items on the agenda will include regional development on both sides of the Kvarken strait and EU funding opportunities for regional development. An example of EU regional development funding is the Interreg initiative, which aims to improve the wellbeing of communities and strengthen cooperation between regions in the EU Member States.

“We are currently living in an age of challenges and instability. The global landscape is characterised by geopolitical tensions, such as the situation in Iran and Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. Economic uncertainties and technological transformations, including the impacts of artificial intelligence, are shaping the global operating environment. In times like these, Nordic cooperation is especially valuable, both in principle and in practice. We are a community of like-minded countries with the same values and a shared history. We work together to uphold the rules-based international order, democracy and a fair and responsible market economy,” said Minister Strand.

Nordic Day is celebrated in the Nordic countries, Åland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The day is a celebration of the oldest regional political collaboration format in the world. It is celebrated on 23 March, the date on which the Helsinki Treaty was signed in 1962, laying the foundation for official cooperation between the Nordic countries.

Inquiries: Alexander Lång, Special Adviser, tel. +358 295 160 866, Prime Minister’s Office