Speech by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at a dinner in the Kremlin on 7.6.2000

(check against delivery)

I am delighted that we Presidents of two neighbouring countries, the Republic of Finland and the Russian Federation, can meet so soon after our election.

Relations between Finland and Russia are good. Indeed, they set an example of what good-neighbourly relations ought to be. This has been achieved through the work that we Finns and Russians have done together and we can be justifiably proud of it. The resolute efforts of political decision makers together with an open civil discourse have healed the wounds left behind by wars and injustices and built reconciliation. We have every reason to cherish this shared achievement of ours.

You, Mr. President, are the focus of great expectations not only in Russia, but also elsewhere in Europe and the world. Prospects for reforms are today better than perhaps ever before in the history of democratic Russia. Finland, like the European Union as a whole, supports Russia on her road towards stability and the rule of law.

Quoting from your inaugural speech, Mr. President, I can assure you that also Finland wants a free, flourishing, prosperous, strong and civilised Russia. Our historical experience has shown that a Russia living in peace with herself accords also with her neighbour’s interests.

Today on her lively border with Finland, Russia also meets the European Union. Rapidly-growing flows of travellers and trade are only a foretaste of what is yet to come. Enlargement of the European Union will makes its common border with Russia considerably longer and this will mean much more interaction and trade.

We welcome the new willingness of Russia to engage, as a European country, in closer cooperation with the European Union. We remember the Russian EU strategy that you, Mr. President, presented at the EU-Russia summit in Helsinki last October. It was a constructive response to the EU’s own strategy on Russia.

In 1997 Finland announced an initiative concerning a Northern Dimension for the EU. One of the goals towards which this aspired was closer cooperation between the EU and Russia. It has pleased us to see Russia grasping this extended hand. The Northern Dimension describes the challenge and opportunity that the meeting of an enlarging EU and Russia in an integrating Europe creates. With the aid of the Northern Dimension, the EU thinks of and understands a new Russia.

I am convinced that growing cooperation and trade between Russia and an enlarging EU will bring the Baltic Sea Region the stability that we all want. Estonia’s, Latvia’s and Lithuania’s negotiations to accede to the EU are making brisk progress. With membership, the entire population of the Baltic States will acquire EU citizenship. I believe that the Russian-speaking minorities in these countries will enrich the Union and further deepen integration and interdependence between the EU and Russia.

The Baltic Sea with its environs is a region boasting one of the fastest rates of economic growth in Europe. Without Russia’s contribution, however, development in the region will be neither sustainable nor balanced. St. Petersburg’s scientific expertise and the high educational standard of its population are a dormant resource. Cooperation between the EU and Russia is also the most important means of narrowing standard-of-living gaps and combatting threats to the environment.

I propose a toast to your health and to the success of a reforming and democratic Russia!