I would like to begin by thanking the esteemed Chairman of C.A.R.I., Ambassador Carlos Muniz, and Foreign Minister Guido di Tella for their warm expressions of welcome. I truly appreciate the opportunity to be the first Finnish head of state to address this prestigious council, the work of which is known and respected world-wide. I make so bold as to express the hope that this visit of mine will lead to C.A.R.I. and the Finnish Institute of International Affairs stepping up their cooperation in studying foreign policy and international relations. I am convinced that both bodies would thereby add new and more global dimensions to their work.

Although Finland's history as an independent state is more than a century shorter than Argentina and many other countries on this continent can boast of, we are nonetheless part of Europe's old civilisation. The roots of our society can be traced back to the 12^th century when, as part of Sweden, we became a member of the Nordic family of states. In the period from 1809 to 1917, as an autonomous grand duchy within the Russian Empire, we matured to the point of eligibility for full national sovereignty. Thus when Finland declared her national independence on 6 December 1917, the threshold to be crossed was not high. In fact, independence was the logical culmination of a centuries-long development, during which we had earned our place as an equal among the nations of Europe.

The years between the world wars were a period of rapid economic, cultural and societal development in the young Finland. In autumn 1939, on the eve of the second world war, our democracy was one of the most stable in the whole continent.

The Soviet Union's attack on us at the end of November 1939 brought peaceful development in our country to an end. For more than a hundred days the Finnish Army fought alone, outnumbered several-fold by the forces of the great power aggressor. Although the armistice signed in Moscow in March 1940 bore a high price, Finland was able to preserve her independence and escaped occupation by the Red Army. After hostilities had broken out between Germany and the Soviet Union in 1941, Finland again found herself at war with the Soviet Union. This round of fighting, which historians call the Continuation War, lasted more than three long and arduous years until in autumn 1944, before the final collapse of Germany's eastern front, Finland concluded a separate armistice with the Soviet Union. Now, too, the peace conditions were harsh: we had to pay a massive indemnity and lost over ten per cent of our territory. On the other hand, we shared with Britain the distinction of being the only European belligerents to not to suffer occupation at any stage. The decisive factor was the Finnish forces' success in stemming a massive Soviet offensive on the Karelian Isthmus in June-July 1944. The Finnish front was the only area in the Soviet Union's western theatre of operations where Stalin's armies failed to crush their opponents.

The fact that in the wake of the second world war Finland alone among the Soviet Union's western neighbours managed to preserve her independence and her free Western European social system has often caused astonishment. In European politics, Finland was perceived as belonging to the Soviet sphere of interest and the attention and help that came to us from the West was very marginal. That became obvious at the Paris Peace Conference in 1947, when the Soviet Union had virtually free hands to dictate the final peace terms imposed on Finland.

Nevertheless, Finland had managed to keep her traditional democratic institutions alive and well throughout the war years. The Finnish Army did not have to surrender and was able to demobilise in a normal manner. Finland had suffered military setbacks, but had not lost the war, because the most important goal towards which our defensive war effort had been directed - that of preserving our national independence - had been achieved. True, the price we paid was high; in autumn 1944, for example, more than 15% of the entire population were involved in the war effort on or near the front.

The essential reason why Finland remained a Western parliamentary democracy was the fact that a clear majority of our people felt an aversion to and opposed communism. In the labour movement, for example, Western social democracy retained the upper hand throughout. The Finns were able to rise above their internecine conflicts and disputes. Faced with an external threat, our people - irrespective of political ideology or party affiliation - demonstrated patriotism and a genuine willingness to defend their country.

During the long years of the Cold War, Finland had a special status that did not quite fit into any of the categories in the textbooks of international politics then in use. On the one hand, we had cooperation with the Soviet Union, but on the other, we were firmly anchored in the West, and especially aligned with the other Nordic countries, in the ideological and cultural senses, and the same went for our economic and social system. Although relations with the Soviet Union were often problematic and political and economic pressures from that quarter were not unknown, those relations nevertheless served our fundamental interest, that of safeguarding independence.

During the Cold War, Finland pursued a policy of neutrality that involved remaining aloof from conflicts between the great powers. That policy regulated our relations with the Soviet Union, but on the other hand gave us room for manoeuvre in foreign policy. Among the various international fora, the United Nations and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe were the main foci of our efforts in the sphere of international diplomacy. There were, however, credibility problems from time to time. The term "Finlandisation" entered the vocabulary of international politics some time after it had been coined in the then Federal Republic of Germany - within that country's internal debate on Ostpolitik - in the late 1960s. There can be no doubting that the use of the word cast a shadow over Finland's foreign-policy image and that it showed how difficult some outsiders found it to understand our position.

The end of the Cold War brought a transformation of the international political configuration generally and the situation in Europe, not least in Finland's immediate vicinity, changed. That profound process of transformation, in which states and other international actors are still seeking their roles, is nowhere near completed.

The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and in Eastern and Central Europe led to the reunification of Germany and later the withdrawal of Russian forces, the disintegration of Russia's Soviet-era empire and the emergence as independent states of the countries that it had included. Unfortunately, serious conflicts in Central Asia and the Caucasus were among the consequences of change. Yugoslavia disintegrated and the result was a bitter war of a kind that our continent probably no longer expected could happen. It took years to bring that conflict under control.

Europe experienced a new uncertainty, which included streams of refugees, ethnic cleansing and other human rights violations, dangers associated with nuclear power stations and nuclear weapons, as well as environmental problems. A rising level of crime must also be included in the list of security-threatening factors that have no respect for national borders.

The changes in Finland's environs are mainly positive from our perspective insofar as they involve democratisation and an open Russia, albeit one wrestling with internal problems, as well as the re-establishment of independence in the three Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Finland is making her contribution to facilitating Russia's integration into the international economy and various cooperation arrangements. We are also supporting, in common with the other Nordic countries, sovereignty and reform in the Baltic States and their efforts to prepare themselves for integration.

Two features characterise the development trend in Europe in the 1990s: a striving for political and economic integration, in addition to which the countries that have experienced subjugation by the Soviet Union are seeking a guarantor of their security.

The most important choice made by Finland in the new situation was to seek membership of the European Union, and this came to pass at the beginning of 1995. Today, the EU is one of the central actors in the global economy. It has a combined gross domestic product greater than that of the United States. As a fully-fledged member, Finland is engaged in constantly-intensifying cooperation to determine the course of the developments that will affect her own future. Membership of the EU has brought change in Finland's international position. It can be said that in the past our neutrality constrained our international activities to some extent and made our participation in international affairs more selective. By contrast, EU membership means that we have an expanding field of international operations and at the same time broader international responsibility. Finland is both determined to avail of her new opportunities and committed to shouldering her new responsibility. My visit to Argentina demonstrates our desire for closer relations with countries outside Europe.

Finland is working to strengthen the European Union and enhance its capacity for action so as to ensure that future enlargement can be carried through according to the timetable envisaged. That way, enlargement will strengthen both the internal and the external security of the Union.

I believe that the foundation on which security must rest in our transformed Europe comprises political and economic integration and a strengthening of democratic societies. According to the current outlook, the Union will be able to accept new members after the turn of the millennium. In the next decade, the EU could be a community of 25-30 states. It is important to Finland that the applications of our close neighbours Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania be considered on the same basis as those of the other candidates for membership. By developing the Union's northern dimension, we are creating the preconditions for promoting relations between the Union and Russia.

Strengthening the international role of the EU accords with Finland's interests. The Union is an important actor in negotiations to liberalise world trade, in the various organisations that coordinate cooperation in Europe and to an increasing extent in international conflict-prevention and crisis-management efforts.

Finland is participating in the development of a common European security space through her work in several bodies. These include the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe, in addition to which we have joined NATO's Partnership for Peace programme and are helping the Western European Union (WEU) in its crisis-management role.

NATO is adjusting to altered circumstances. It is gaining new members and developing new forms of cooperation with the states, including Finland, that have joined its Partnership for Peace programme. Russia has announced her willingness to negotiate a bilateral relationship with NATO as part of a security order encompassing the whole of Europe. The US-Russian summit due to be held in Helsinki on 20 and 21 March takes place at a momentous juncture in international politics. It is Finland's view that the creation of the new European order should not involve the creation of new lines of division, now that the division that scarred our continent for decades has finally come to an end.

Finland's policy of not belonging to military alliances and of maintaining an independent defence supports stability in Northern Europe. Through its Partnership for Peace programme, NATO gives countries not belonging to military alliances the opportunity to cooperate with it to a growing degree. Finland is already participating in a NATO-led crisis-management operation in Bosnia.

Both Finland and Argentina have long experience of taking part in UN peacekeeping tasks, in which they have also cooperated with each other. Finland will continue to contribute to strengthening the role of the UN as the bearer of primary responsibility for international peace and security.

Although Finland's vital national interests have historically related to our own environs and the rest of Europe, we also have surprisingly long traditions of cooperation with the leading Latin American states, especially Argentina and Brazil. Argentina was among the first states to recognise our independence. There have never been problems in political relations between us.

Before the second world war, the only plenipotentiary diplomatic missions that Finland maintained outside Europe were those in Washington, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. The latter two indicate the importance that we attached to Argentina and Brazil in our diplomatic relations in those early decades of our independence. We recall with particular gratitude that those relations endured through the second world war, although in the prevailing military and political configurations of those years many other countries severed relations with Finland, then fighting a defensive war. Impoverished as we were in the wake of the war, it also meant very much to us when Argentina granted us credit to buy goods.

Finnish migration to Argentina, as to the whole of Latin America, has been low. The Argentinean population of Finnish descent is now less than two hundred in number. That is because long-distance Finnish migration has traditionally had North America as its destination.

It has been a different matter with trade. As long ago as the 1920s, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay became important export markets for our forest products industry. There are several respected newspaper publishers and printing houses here in Argentina whose owners have been buying Finnish paper for three or four generations. It is a pleasure to note that these business relations have always functioned well and that punctuality of either delivery or payment has never been a problem.

As recently as the 1980s, Finland and South America had their own shipping line and a church in Buenos Aires that was originally built for Finnish seamen still stands as a reminder of that.

In this context I ought also to mention the renowned Finnish geologist and geographer Väinö Auer. Indeed, he may well be the best-known Finn in Argentinean scientific circles because of his expeditions to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego in the twenties, thirties and forties.

In Finland's present-day foreign and trade policies, Latin America is assuming growing importance. It was only in the 1960s that Finnish industry began establishing in this continent, and even then it did so slowly and cautiously. Now, however, several of our leading companies have operations here. The high-level business delegation accompanying me on this visit bears testimony to the level of Finnish interest in your region.

For the European Union, Latin America has high priority and that fact has stimulated Finnish interest beyond the forest products industry, which has an old tradition of business with you. Exchanges of visits on a variety of levels between representatives of both government and industry have been constantly increasing.

An important task in the further development of Argentinean-Finnish relations will be to expand cultural ties. There is a good basis from which to start, because the music of Sibelius and Finnish architecture are well-known in Argentina, whilst Finland is one of the few countries outside Argentina where the tango has taken firm root in our musical culture. In the literary sphere, an important advance was made in 1995 when Finland participated in the Buenos Aires book fair, something that she has continued to do every year since then. Exchanges of students and scientists should be increased in the future. Deserving of special mention is the ongoing meteorological cooperation between Finland and Argentina in the Antarctic, where sophisticated technology developed by the Vaisala company of Finland is being used to measure ozone levels in the atmosphere.

An especially notable feature in Latin America has been the development of integration processes in recent years, especially of MERCOSUR. The outline agreement on cooperation between MERCOSUR and the EU signed in Madrid in December 1995 was a vital step forward. I believe that it opens new vistas for bilateral economic and commercial cooperation between Finland and Argentina.

Europe and Latin America are linked by shared historical traditions and values. I wish in this conjunction to express the Finnish government's respect for the democratic development, including an improvement in the human rights situation, that has been accomplished both in Argentina and throughout the continent.

I hope that the review that I have given you and the thoughts that I have shared with you will contribute to increasing knowledge and understanding of Finland in Argentina, thereby strengthening ties between our countries and our citizens in every walk of life.

Thank you.