Prime Minister Stubb encourages practical Nordic cooperation
Translation. Original Finnish released on 28 October 2014.
On 27 and 28 October, Prime Minister Alexander Stubb attended in Stockholm a session of the Nordic Council as well as a meeting of prime ministers held in conjunction with it. In his contributions, Prime Minister Stubb encouraged practical and effective utilisation of Nordic cooperation.
“Cooperation with the Nordic countries is hugely important for Finland; we are one family. We have very similar strengths and challenges. We can, however, tighten our cooperation further: removing frontier barriers and brightening the Nordic brand around the world are very concrete tasks for us.”
The Prime Minister’s visit to Stockholm began on Monday, 27 October with a meeting of the prime ministers of the Nordic and Baltic countries. Among the topics discussed at the meeting were the political and economic situation of Europe, Latvia’s Presidency of the EU in 2015, and trade agreement negotiations between the EU and the United States. In addition, the prime ministers discussed key international issues and the digital single market.
The prime ministers of the Nordic countries met on Tuesday, 28 October. The prime ministers discussed, among other things, Arctic cooperation, Nordic security and defence cooperation, and international climate negotiations. Prime Minister Stubb’s speech addressed the subject of Barents Region cooperation. The prime ministers of the Nordic countries met representatives of the Åland Islands, the Faroe Islands and Greenland as well as the Presidium of the Nordic Council.
The discussions of the summit that launched the 66th session of the Nordic Council highlighted, among other things, issues relating to Nordic defence cooperation as well as better utilisation of the Nordic countries’ joint strengths.
Inquiries: Anna-Kaisa Heikkinen, Special Adviser (International Affairs), tel. +358 40 748 3867 and Maria Nurmi, Communications Specialist for International Affairs, tel. +358 50 408 4061, Prime Minister’s Office, and Kari Kahiluoto, Chief of the Secreteriat for Nordic Co-operation, tel. +358 50 575 4973, Ministry for Foreign Affairs