Speech by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at a dinner hosted by the President of Azerbaidzhan on 29 september 2005

First of all, I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for the warm reception and the kind words that you addressed to Finland and to myself. Last time I had the pleasant opportunity to meet with you in May this year at the Council of Europe Summit in Warsaw. Today, I consider it a great honour to be the first Finnish President to pay an official visit to independent Azerbaijan.

When landing at the airport today I was thinking of my countrymen and countrywomen who settled in Baku 130 years ago. Many of them had been working for the Nobel company in St. Petersburg and, encouraged by the emerging oil boom, they came to search for their fortune at the oil fields of Balakhany.

Helsinki and Baku were cities within the same empire, and yet in Baku the Finnish families encountered a world "that was neither east nor west, but in the middle of the crossroads - “a place where different people and religions meet and mingle with each other", as some of them wrote in their letters back home.

Today the oil fields of Azerbaijan once again attract foreign investors to the oil capital of the Caspian Sea. The Contract of the Century has become reality, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline connects your country with the Mediterranean. Once again Finnish businessmen are starting to look towards the direction of Apsheron peninsula. The fact that my arrival co-insides with a high level Finnish-Azeri business seminar, speaks for itself.

I recall my first visit to your beautiful capital in November 1996 as Foreign Minister. In those days Finland was co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Process. Even though the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict still sadly waits for its solution, I could see today that in nine years your country and your capital have made substantial economic progress. I trust that the new economic progress will also contribute to the advancement of our common values, democracy, human rights and rule of law.

This year we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the OSCE. The CSCE Summit of 1975 in Helsinki paved way to the subsequent changes on the political map of Europe. In 1992, Azerbaijan re-entered the international scene at the OSCE Helsinki Summit already as an independent state. It was also in 1992 in Helsinki that the Minsk process was born.

Today, we still face many of the same challenges as thirteen years ago. I am sad to say that the Minsk process is still searching for a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I sincerely hope that we will soon see progress in the negotiations. The solution of the conflict will open vast new possibilities of development to the region. That is why every window of opportunity should be used within the Minsk process to solve the conflict.

The utilization of vast energy resources increases the prosperity of many nations. Globalisation brings countries closer to each other, but it brings also challenges. The increasing differences in levels of income have been unavoidable even in the so-called established democracies. And yet, the more even the distribution of state revenues is among the population, the more stable the society is. In this context I very much welcome the State Programme on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development of Azerbaijan and wish you all success in its implementation.

For the European Union, Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus have become increasingly important partners. The fact that the European Union appointed a Special Representative to the South Caucasus in 2003 proofs this tendency. Finland has played an active role, and we are, of course, happy and proud that a Finnish senior diplomat, Ambassador Heikki Talvitie, was appointed to this task. The Union remains committed to develop closer relations with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. EU's invitation to all three countries to join the European Neighbourhood Policy aims at sharing the prosperity, stability and well-being in the region. Finland is looking forward to further develop EU´s relations with Azerbaijan during the upcoming Finnish EU-presidency.

In a few weeks´ time the international community will follow with great interest your parliamentary elections. I feel confident that you will show the world that Azerbaijan is capable of conducting transparent, free and fair elections, and make the country an example of evolutionary changes in the region. Today the countries of the world need each other more than ever. We live in a shared world where democracy, economy and security are closely linked.

I hope that my visit to Azerbaijan will strengthen our countries´ relations and give a boost to economic cooperation between Finland and Azerbaijan. Mr. President, let me once again thank you for your warm hospitality and propose this toast to you and the First Lady, to the happiness and prosperity of the people of Azerbaijan and to future cooperation between Finland and Azerbaijan.