MR MARTTI AHTISAARI, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND, IN WINDHOEK, ON MAY 2, 1995

I wish to express our appreciation for your invitation to pay this state visit. For my wife and myself, arriving in Namibia is like coming home. Our return is full of memories.

Namibia has been independent for five years. Yet the development of relations between your independent state and Finland is but a brief interlude in the history of cooperation between our countries: this year we mark the 125th anniversary of the beginning of Finnish missionary work in Namibia, and the 150th anniversary of the birth of perhaps the most renowned of the Finnish missionaries who have served in your country, Martti Rautanen.

These events will put Namibia very much in the spotlight in Finland. Naturally, the present and future of your country will also receive widespread media coverage.

Just over five years ago, in my capacity as the Secretary-General's special representative, I had the honour to supervise Namibia's first elections as part of the UN-supported independence process. As an expression of appreciation, President Sam Nujoma has granted honorary citizenship of Namibia to myself and my wife. We greatly appreciate this gesture on the part of the President.

Now Namibia has had a second general election. It took place in accordance with the groundrules of democracy. The party led by yourself, Mr. President, achieved a convincing two-thirds majority in the polls.

That electoral victory gives your party and the government appointed on its basis even greater responsibility for developing the country in the best interests of the entire people. It likewise gives the government greater freedom to develop the country along its own lines. Immediately after independence, Namibia put its development goals in order of priority.

Getting democracy to take root as a value and method that permeates society is a protracted and profound process, not by any means an easy one. In Namibia, democracy has got off to a good start. Its further strengthening will require determination and, above all, accepting responsibility for the future.

Having followed developments in Namibia quite closely I cannot but respect the determination with which the people of Namibia have set off on the road of reconciliation among themselves and turned their looks to the future.

The international community rightly regards Namibia as the best example of an orderly transition to independence. The internationalcommunity is impressed by the Namibian policy of reconciliation which you, Mr President, have personally advocated. After war and oppression, you have managed to cast bitterness aside and life between the various segments of the people is peaceful.

I am quite certain that Namibia's neighbour South Africa very closely observed the progress of your policy of reconciliation before itself choosing the same path to resolving conflicts.

Many difficult situations have been defused in southern Africa and it has been possible to make the transition from war to working in peace. By contrast, tragic internal problems elsewhere in Africa are wreaking frightful destruction on peoples. Unrest is plaguing and branding the entire continent and preventing rational development.

National reconciliation as a policy ought to be applied even more widely, not only in Africa but elsewhere in the world as well.

Finland has been a member of the European Union since the beginning of this year. Accession was a historic event with profound effects for our country. As members of the Union, we have found a completely new interface with many geographically remote countries. And so shall it be in the case of Namibia. EU-membership gives us a richer cooperative relationship with you, whilst our experience of bilateral links can also contribute positively to cooperation between the European Union and Namibia.

Within the EU, there have been exploratory consultations between various countries to examine what kind of cooperation with the OAU could be accomplished. Finnish representatives have emphasised the support that our country could provide by, for example, training Africans for peacekeeping duties. As an experienced peacekeeper, we are ready and willing for cooperation of that nature. I believe that discussions between the OAU and the EU concerning the outlines of future cooperation will soon get under way.

In Namibia, a policy of reconciliation has been a prerequisite for the preservation of peace and security in the country. Without peace there is no development. I am convinced that the people of Namibia can look to the future with confidence.

I wish good fortune to five-year-old Namibia.

Permit me to propose a toast to the health of yourself and your spouse as well as the success of Namibia and its people.