On behalf of my wife and myself, I wish to thank you and your spouse for your invitation to visit Poland. It is an invitation that we were delighted to accept. We likewise thank you for the magnificent hospitality that has been extended to us and for the programme arranged for us here in Warsaw and in Gdansk the day after tomorrow.

I value, Mr. President, your warm words about Finland and appreciate the results of our discussions today. Those discussions can be continued later today and tomorrow. Ahead of us are many major challenges and Finland and Poland ought to intensify their cooperation so as to be prepared to respond to them.

Our countries are geographically close to each other - even neighbours - linked as we are by the Baltic Sea. Confrontation in Europe divided the countries on the shore of that sea into groupings ranged against each other. Today, the Baltic Sea once again unites Northern Europe.

Relations between Finland and Poland have naturally gone through many vicissitudes in the course of history. We once shared a king, Sigismund III, who four centuries ago made Warsaw the capital of Poland in place of Cracow, because Warsaw was closer to Sweden and Finland. Our countries' destinies have often been interlinked in other respects as well. In the last century and right up to the Bolshevik revolution, Finland's geographical location often enabled her to get off lighter than Poland, even though both belonged to the Russian Empire. Field-Marshal Mannerheim, who served in Poland as a general with a cavalry regiment of the Czar's army, had his thinking significantly influenced by the Polish people's will for independence. Later, when he served an independent Finland in a leading role, Mannerheim, who loved Poland and the Poles, was able to make good use of the many lessons that he had learnt in your country. 1939 and the years of war that followed were burdensome for both peoples.

A long history and interest in each other's achievements have left strong ties between the countries and a genuine mutual affection, which one can easily sense here today. Relations between our countries have traditionally been good and unmarred by problems. Especially in recent years, since Poland's peaceful revolution, interest in your country's political, economic and social development has strongly increased also in Finland. I would like in this context to congratulate Poland on her brisk development. Rich in tradition and culture, Poland is taking back her place in Europe.

Our visit is taking place at an auspicious time. The Nordic welfare state model is the subject of genuine interest in Poland, despite the considerable challenges which confront that model. I believe that we can give most to Poland by telling how Finland and the other Nordic countries have adjusted to integration and how social policy will have to be developed in the new situation. In quite a short time Finland has transformed herself into a high-tech country by concentrating in recent decades on open and liberal international cooperation.

Finland has been a member of the European Union for over two years. In the autumn of 1994 we chose the road of expanding cooperation. Membership has been the most important political event for us in decades. It has added clarity to and strengthened our international status in the midst of international upheaval. It has brought us new and important opportunities to wield influence in foreign and security policy.

Today the Union is the most important actor in Europe in efforts to increase stability and prosperity in the entire continent. Our own experience during our brief membership has been positive. As a small member state, we consider it very important that the Union acquire a greater ability to function effectively. A stronger Union also accords with the interests of other parties. A successful conclusion of the Intergovernmental Conference is important not only for the existing members, but also for the countries that have applied for membership.

Finland fully supports enlargement of the European Union. It is widely regarded as a historical inevitability if democracy and a market economy are to be able to establish themselves in the Baltic States and Central Europe. Enlargement is a major challenge for the Union. All applicant countries must be given the right to commence negotiations at the same time. After that, the negotiations could follow separate courses depending on how each applicant meets the criteria for membership. Thanks to your reform policy, Poland's prospects are good.

Finland is prepared to share her expertise on the basis of her own recent experience of the accession process. We can say that membership calls for extensive and intensive adjustment, which is mainly a matter for the applicant to take care of. The more effective the applicant's commitment to carrying through the process, the less painful the initial stage of membership will be.

We understand and respect each other's solutions in security policy. Finland's special concentration is on strengthening the role of the European Union and building up a broad European security community. Together with Sweden, we have been active in presenting initiatives to strengthen the Union's capability, especially in managing crises. We have no security deficit, nor do we believe that in the present situation changing our line would increase the security of either Finland or Europe.

The outcome of the recent Helsinki summit meeting between Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin was positive in this respect. In conjunction with the summit, the principle enshrined in the Final Act of the CSCE in 1975 was confirmed once again: every country has the right to choose its own security arrangements.

NATO is an important and esteemed cooperation partner for us. Our aim is enduring cooperation. In the case of IFOR, we have had very positive experience of cooperation also with Polish peacekeepers. Both countries have long and venerable traditions of peacekeeping.

The Baltic Sea region is particularly important for Finland from the perspective of both our security and our economic and cultural relations. We have considered it important that the independence of the Baltic States is consolidated and that their sovereignty and economic development is supported.

About a third of our foreign trade is with the Baltic Sea region. Prospects for growing economic cooperation are very favourable, but determined work on both the bilateral and the multilateral level is essential if those opportunities are to be availed of. Cooperation in the region has become closer and more effective in recent years. An important milestone was the meeting of prime ministers in Visby a year ago. We face major challenges across the spectrum from environmental protection to telecommunications and improving infrastructure. I would like to emphasise also the importance of effective physical communications, in relation to which the Via Baltica project is crucial.

The EU's strengthening commitment to cooperation in the Baltic Sea region has been particularly important. It has been Finland's goal to raise this matter to the same level of priority on the EU agenda as Mediterranean cooperation, which we likewise support. We have a vision in which the Baltic coastline is in effect EU territory.

Our bilateral cooperation has made positive and steady progress in step with the consolidation of democracy and a market economy in Poland and the results that your policy of reform has yielded. Relations are lively both on the government level and between our parliaments. There is further potential for broadening cooperation and integration is adding even more. The increased interest that Finnish companies are showing in the Polish market and in investment opportunities in your country I find very gratifying. Poland is by a clear margin our largest export market in Central Europe. Relative to the size of Finland, investment is at an amazingly high level. I hope that my visit will help add momentum to our economic relations. I am accompanied by a high-level delegation representing the Finnish economic sector. Tomorrow they will be attending the Finnish-Polish economic seminar at the Royal Palace in Warsaw.

We should promote cultural exchange more, because our peoples still know too little about each other. Our achievements deserve greater visibility and recognition in both countries. The setting for that work is propitious, because our peoples have traditionally had a genuine interest in and affection for each other. Europe and the Baltic Sea unite us.

Finland and Poland are confidently facing new challenges in a changing Europe. We must create a peaceful, civil Europe. We must show the way to the future, not be trampled by the feet of the past.

Mr. President, Mrs. Kwasniewska,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to propose a toast to the health of the President and Mrs. Kwasniewska, to the great success of the Polish people and to the further development of relations between Finland and Poland.