Speech of thanks by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at a gathering of business representatives in Stockholm on 3.5.2000

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My warmest thanks to the Federation of Swedish Industries and the Finnish-Swedish Chamber of Commerce for arranging this gathering. The Chamber of Commerce has done important work to develop economic relations between our countries. Without the active input of Swedish economic life, this work would not have succeeded. I am deeply grateful to Swedish industry for its honest and lively cooperation with the Finnish economic sector.

Swedish prosperity has been of great importance for relations between our countries and social development in Finland. I firmly believe that the success that Finland enjoys in the future will be an increasingly important factor from Sweden’s perspective.

The Finnish and Swedish industrial sectors operate in global markets, sometimes as partners and sometimes as rivals. Both have their main markets in the EU. Therefore our countries and their business sectors must cooperate to develop the Single Market.

The Nordic market and its corporate culture are a good basis on which to understand and master the Single Market. It is also the key to the market in the Baltic Sea Region, which includes several candidates for EU membership in addition to Russia. Thus cooperation in relation to the Baltic Sea Region and the Northern Dimension is important for industry in both of our countries. This work has been gotten under way and must be given a more tangible form.

In economic cooperation and trade between Finland and Sweden there has been a strong shift towards combining forces with the special aim of making our companies better equipped to compete globally. This important restructuring is likely to continue.

The problems that have been encountered in managing global markets also counsel caution. Several regional economic crises have shown how interdependent economies have become. It will be impossible to maintain prosperity in Europe if there are large-scale problems in countries of central importance to us. As global competition and interdependence increase, the Nordic market and the values that dominate it can show both capital and labour the course of development to follow.

I wish your work, the positive effects of which can be seen in both Finland and Sweden, the best of success.