Minister for Nordic Cooperation Anders Adlercreutz's speech at the Annual Meeting of Heads of Mission 2025

"I’m glad to see strong momentum for Nordic cooperation. Our goal is a united and strong Nordic region that benefits us all."

Distinguished Ambassadors,

I am very pleased to have this opportunity to discuss topical issues of Nordic cooperation with you. This is the second time I am addressing the Annual Meeting of Heads of Mission as the minister responsible for Nordic cooperation. Once again, the past year has demonstrated the importance of the work done by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and its network of diplomatic and consular missions. I would like to start by thanking all the people working in the Foreign Service here in Finland and abroad for your invaluable contribution.

Luckily, we Finns are not alone in the wide world, and we are working closely with our allies and partners. The Nordic region is the most natural frame of reference for us, and the Nordic countries are our closest friends. That is why it is natural for us in Finland to work and exert influence together with our Nordic reference group. The Nordic countries are our closest partners and now our allies, too. It is also important and gratifying that the Baltic States are more and more involved in the Nordic cooperation. This is a development we support.

Dear Ambassadors, as heads of mission you are in a pivotal position when it comes to advancing Nordic cooperation around the world and supporting the networking efforts of public administration, companies, business and industry, educational institutions and civil society organisations. The Nordic Council of Ministers offers funding for local projects carried out in cooperation between Nordic diplomatic missions outside the Nordic region. I am very pleased that many Finnish missions have availed of this opportunity. The Nordic brand is perhaps the strongest regional brand in the world, and people around the world are genuinely interested in Nordic solutions.

As we are all aware, the Nordic Council of Ministers is a forum for the official cooperation between the Nordic governments. Its premise is to find common Nordic solutions in areas where the Nordic countries can gain better results by cooperating than by acting alone. Nordic cooperation involves many sectors. It is guided by the Nordic prime ministers’ vision for the Nordic region, which is to make the Nordic region the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. The vision has three strategic priorities: a green Nordic region, a competitive Nordic region and a socially sustainable Nordic region. However, we should not forget that we still have all too many cross-border barriers between our countries. This summer, too, we have heard many accounts of how difficult it is to get things done in another Nordic country. We still have a lot of work ahead of us.

This year, Finland and Åland are co-hosting the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Our presidency programme is titled ‘Nordic Region 2025: United and Strong’. Different ministries in Finland and the Government of Åland are cooperating broadly to implement the programme. I am very happy that we have been able to work seamlessly together on this important task.

Our Presidency focuses on implementing the Nordic vision in the three strategic priorities of a green, competitive and socially sustainable Nordic region. Finland is working hard to achieve great progress towards the vision. Our Presidency marks the start of a crucial phase of the vision, extending to 2030. All the ministerial councils have their own sectoral cooperation programmes, defining the objectives of their activities.

A special focus for our Presidency is the promotion of societal security. The goal is to make the Nordic region more resilient and more comprehensively and broadly prepared for all kinds of civil crises and hybrid threats.

In May, the Presidency organised a meeting between the Nordic prime ministers in Turku and Paimio. The ministers adopted a declaration affirming their strong commitment to deepening Nordic cooperation to bolster resilience and civil preparedness. An obvious strength of the Nordic countries is the high level of trust we have in our societies, enabling individuals to participate and exert influence in matters important to them. Together we can build communities that are better prepared to face future uncertainties, while protecting the wellbeing of our people. It is important that these efforts cover different sectors of society, and that is why the Nordic Council of Ministers is an excellent cooperation platform for those sectors.

Another gross-government priority of our Presidency is children and young people. Finland and Åland are together working to improve the rights, wellbeing and inclusion of children and young people in the Nordic region. It is important to integrate the perspective of children and young people into all sectors of the Nordic Council of Ministers, although sometimes this can be difficult. On the subject of young people, I am glad that Finland will be hosting the Nordic-Baltic Youth Summit later this autumn, bringing together young people from the Nordic countries and the Baltic States. The summit was first organised in Vilnius last year, and now it is Helsinki’s turn.

Dear friends,

We must find Nordic solutions to address climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution. We can do this by promoting clean energy production, carbon neutrality, sustainable bioeconomy and the circular economy, among other sectors. The Nordic region must remain a global leader of a green transition that is competitive and driven by innovation. Finland’s presidency will continue to promote international environmental and climate cooperation. We need international cooperation and global partnerships to tackle the cross-border environmental and climate challenges we are now facing. The Nordic countries’ efforts are bearing fruit, and we are making our mark on the implementation of ambitious environmental and climate agreements.

The global financial standing and competitiveness of Nordic companies are crucial for developing business and industry in the Nordic region and for safeguarding the wellbeing of our societies. Nordic companies must have the capacity and ability to compete in the global market. Our presidency programme highlights the need to promote competitiveness by stepping up cooperation in innovation and sustainability, among other areas.

Finland’s Presidency will also focus on our democratic resilience. The Nordic welfare society is built on trust. Trust in democracy, equality and the rule of law are essential building blocks of the Nordic society, and we must protect and reinforce that trust. This will be the theme of the Nordic Democracy Forum we will organise in November as part of Finland’s Presidency. The forum will bring together representatives of Nordic cities, administration, civil society, businesses and organisations.

Media literacy and education for democratic citizenship are themes linked to the vision of a socially sustainable Nordic region. When people of all ages have a strong level of media literacy and an ability to recognise disinformation, it will strengthen active citizenship and bolster resilience in our societies. Schools, education and training teach children and young people about the component parts, values and rules of democratic societies, equipping them with better tools for participating in democratic processes. In this connection, I would like to remind you that Finland’s Presidency will be organising a conference on media literacy and education for democratic citizenship at the Helsinki Central Library Oodi in September.

A competent and well-educated population gives us better opportunities to achieve sustainable growth and stronger resilience in our rapidly evolving world. Finland’s Presidency promotes Nordic cooperation to reverse the recent trend in learning outcomes in the Nordic region. Research, too, has always had a strong position in the Nordic countries. Cross-border research cooperation opens doors for finding new solutions to society’s great challenges.

New technologies and digitalisation give us new opportunities but also novel kinds of challenges, and it is natural that the Nordic countries and the Baltic States seek to address them together. Finland’s Presidency promotes sustainable and equitable digitalisation as well as the effective and secure implementation of cross-border information management. The Nordic countries can serve as positive examples of digital transformation. To achieve a successful transformation, we need to adopt measures that offer broad support to the safe use of digital technologies, artificial intelligence and data-based solutions.

In artificial intelligence, the Nordic and Baltic countries are currently working on a collaboration that would promote the responsible development and utilisation of AI in the region. A Nordic centre on artificial intelligence will be created to support Nordic cooperation and to focus especially on the introduction and innovations of applied AI. The plan is to launch the centre officially later this year.

Dear friends,

A key to the Nordic integration and to the implementation of our common vision is to promote free movement between the Nordic countries. It is important that people can live, work, study or run a business in another Nordic country. The Finnish Government strives to remove and prevent cross-border barriers to free movement between the Nordic countries, and the long-term work on these matters will continue during our Presidency. In this connection, I would like to commemorate our late minister and member of Parliament Kimmo Sasi, who in so many ways was as the grand old man of Nordic cooperation. He was also Finland’s representative in the Freedom of Movement Council. Kimmo passed away this April, and he was active and working hard until the very end. His sterling work was esteemed across the Nordic region. Our new representative in the Freedom of Movement Council, Astrid Thors, has big shoes to fill, and she has picked up the baton with ease, helped by her strong background in Nordic cooperation.

Digitalisation is a topical theme in the Freedom of Movement Council where the focus is on removing barriers to free movement in the Nordic region. While digital services make many things easier for people, they also create new kinds of problems, such as limited possibilities to use digital services in another Nordic country. In Nordic cooperation, we have identified many of these challenges, and the ministers for Nordic cooperation have decided to focus on ensuring the availability of cross-border digital services as one of their priority themes in their efforts to remove barriers to free movement.

Taxation and progress in the exchange of population register data are other topical issues affecting free movement in the Nordic region. Here, I can give you a good example from bilateral cooperation. Last autumn, the Finnish and Swedish governments announced that they will launch an expert-level dialogue to develop the exchange of population register data.

Dear friends,

In the current global political climate, it is extremely important that the Nordic countries stay united. There are new opportunities for developing Nordic security and defence cooperation now that all five Nordic countries are allies, following the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. This year, Finland not only holds the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers, we are also chairing the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) and the Haga cooperation in the field of civil preparedness.

The Nordic countries are also committed to supporting Ukraine. We sent a strong signal of our support when we invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to join us in the Nordic Council Session in Reykjavik last October. At the practical level, too, the Nordic countries have supported Ukraine in many ways, and it is important that this support continues.

Dear Ambassadors,

The structures of the official cooperation between the Nordic governments and parliaments date back to the postwar period. In 1952, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden created the Nordic Council for inter-parliamentary cooperation. The cooperation made rapid progress despite the decision to discard the plans for a Nordic customs union and a Nordic economic area. The year 1954 saw the emergence of a common Nordic labour market, and passport controls between Nordic countries were abolished in the 1950s. While to this day, these are important milestones of Nordic cooperation, it is important that we also take time to consider the future of our cooperation. In September, the co-presidency of Finland and Åland will organise a seminar in Mariehamn on the future of Nordic cooperation.

We are also actively discussing the possibilities of reforming the 1962 Helsinki Treaty, which is the legal framework for Nordic cooperation. Last autumn, the Nordic Council gave a recommendation to the Nordic governments to update the Helsinki Treaty, and the governments appointed a rapporteur to study the legal implications related to the proposed revision. The study is underway, and once completed, the Nordic governments will have an opportunity to voice their views.

It makes me happy that there is such a great momentum for Nordic cooperation, not only in Finland but across the Nordic countries. Our goal is a Nordic region that is united and strong. It is a region that serves us all well and generates common benefit and added value.