Address by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at a dinner for heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Finland at the Presidential Palace on 19.4.2001

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My husband and I are delighted to welcome you, the distinguished diplomatic corps accredited to Finland and our honoured Finnish guests, to this traditional dinner.

The past year has been busy, but interesting. At the same time as I assumed office, Finland's new Constitution entered into force. I am pleased that the cooperation with the Government, which the new Constitution requires, has gone well. I believe that both parties have a willingness to work together. We are also in broad agreement on basic solutions in foreign policy, although - depending on the person - choices of words may vary slightly in the discourse.

And there certainly has been no shortage of discussion, nor is there likely to be in the future either. A lot is happening in Europe and more widely in the world, and we Finns want to play a part in it. Another topical reason for a discourse on foreign policy is the ongoing drafting of the Government's report to Parliament on security and defence policy.

The starting point in this report has been to build on the lines set forth in 1997. We Finns see security as a broad concept, one that embraces all functions of society. Finland is carrying on her policy of military non-alignment and at the same time developing her partnership with NATO. While maintaining her traditional defence, Finland participates actively in international crisis management efforts. In addition to military crisis management, I consider ever-closer cooperation in civilian crisis management to be very important.

Enlargement of the European Union will add stability in Europe. Finland is seeking by every means at her disposal to support this development in the EU and we shall also do our utmost to support the candidate countries in their efforts to meet the requirements for membership.

Finland is not a member of NATO, nor have we even applied for membership. But neither do we have any reason to be against the other countries' wishes to join the organisation. Every country has a right to reach its own solution.

European security is important to us. But that is not enough. Our common future is global. In early September last year I had the honour to co-chair the United Nations Millennium Summit together with the President of Namibia. We heard the representatives of the people of the world give their assessments of the future of the planet that we share.

The biggest worry is still poverty. A part of the world now enjoys better conditions of life than ever in the past. Yet millions still live in hopeless destitution. The global goal that the Millennium Summit set was that of halving the proportion living in poverty within 15 years.

Achieving this goal is a challenge, responding to which will require a global sense of common responsibility. What it requires of the industrial countries is an increase in the amount of development aid, developing other means of support, and easier access to markets for products from developing countries. However, external actions alone are not the answer. A commitment on the part of developing countries themselves to measures designed to eliminate poverty is essential. It is possible to achieve the goal, provided we have the political will and share the effort.

In the past year I have made several state and other official visits, in most cases together with my husband. These have included visits to all of our neighbouring countries, every one of the Scandinavian countries and further afield as well. We have also received guests from many parts of the world. Your help has been needed time and time again. However, state visits are only a small part of the broad totality of cooperation in which you are participants.

On my own and my husband's behalf, I thank the diplomatic corps for excellent cooperation and propose a toast in your honour.