I extend my most profound thanks to you for the kind welcoming sentiments that you have demonstrated to my wife and myself as well as to the Finnish party accompanying me. I am also grateful for the thoughts and words that you have addressed to my country.

Finland and the Czech Republic do not impinge on each other directly in the geographical sense. Today, however, geography no longer limits interaction between cultures. For example, your own works of literature became familiar to the Finns soon after they were first published. Both of us contend at the top of the league for world championships in ice-hockey. Nor is geography any longer an obstacle to economic and political integration. As the European Union enlarges, Finland and the Czech Republic will meet as partners within its framework.

The Cold War came to an end as the last decade drew to a close. The line that had divided Europe crumbled. Those who, like yourself President Havel, fought for human rights made a central contribution to this historic change. You adopted a stance in opposition to coercion. You became the target of personal persecution. You have deservedly been recognised as one of the great European freedom fighters of our era. I am especially glad to be in your country with you as my host.

My state visit that began today is historic in that it is the first paid by a President of Finland to the Czech Republic. May this visit highlight the possibilities of new interaction and its importance in an integrating Europe.

The Czech Republic together with other European countries that have been liberated from communism has launched extensive economic and political reforms. The security situation of these countries has likewise changed. Above all, they now have the opportunity to make free choices in seeking cooperation partners for themselves.

It is important to understand that the foundation for a new security order has taken shape in Europe in the past few years. It rests on cooperation, economic integration and eliminating ideological confrontation. What must now be demonstrated is the creativity to manage development in a way that precludes a turning back to the past.

The new Europe has above all presented us with the opportunity to create a European society of citizens founded on shared cultural and educational values. Nation-states are still the forces that support it, but they no longer use weapons as instruments of competition with each other. They are building a foundation for enduring stability by economic and political means and their common security through cooperation, determinedly spurning those who violate the peace.

The European Union is becoming the most central actor creating cooperation and security in the new Europe. But the Union is not meant to supplant other cooperative arrangements; instead, it is envisaged as an actor that promotes interaction of every kind.

Indeed, the European Union is becoming a unifying force beyond our continent and in spheres broader than international interaction. Finland would like to see a determined strengthening of the Union's status in every respect. Our membership gives us an opportunity to work for that, and even obliges us to.

In post-Cold War Europe, Finland has been able to broaden her range of options for action thanks specifically to her membership of the Union. That was also our expectation when we decided in a referendum to join. It is better to be inside the Union and taking part in decision-making concerning matters that in any event will directly or indirectly affect all states in our continent.

Finland regards enlargement of the European Union as a key factor affecting the continent's future development - especially where security policy is concerned. Stable economic and social conditions create the prerequisites for common security. The standard of living that citizens enjoy varies from one part of the continent to another. The task of the European Union is to create continent-wide justice, at the same time safeguarding the position of Europeans in global contention to protect interests. A successful conclusion of the ongoing Inter-Governmental Conference is of overriding importance from the perspective of enlargement of the Union.

The Czech Republic's road towards the EU has been a straightforward one, although not without demanding challenges. Your economic reform policy, founded on a capacity for cooperation in domestic politics, has brought undeniable results. Your very rapid acceptance as a member of the OECD is proof of this. Adjustment to the Union's single market is a less visible, but extremely important process, which in your country's case has made excellent progress.

The course that you have followed towards complete integration into the European Union has thus been steady and straightforward, and Finland has given and will continue to give you her complete support in your efforts to gain membership. You will thereby confirm your place at the heart of our continent, as one of its fully-fledged champions and as a creator of its culture, a role that the Czech Republic's precursor states, the kingdoms of Bohemia and Moravia, magnificently performed for centuries.

With the sentiments that I have expressed, I wish to propose a toast to the happiness and success of the Czech Republic, to the further development of Czech-Finnish relations and to your health.