SPEECH BY PRESIDENT MARTTI AHTISAARI OF THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND AT A BANQUET IN THE KREMLIN ON 27.11.1997
"EUROPE NEEDS RUSSIA AND RUSSIA NEEDS EUROPE"
I wish on behalf of my wife and myself to express our joy at being in Russia once again. We have already met three times this year. Since the successful Russian-American summit in Helsinki last March, you, Mr. President and Naína Josifóvna have been on a working trip to our country. We met this summer in Russian Karelia, where my wife and I spent some unforgettable days with your family. Such uncomplicated interaction between the leaders of our states also shows that relations between our countries are on a healthy foundation.
Trade between Finland and Russia is growing at an unprecedented pace. Whereas in the past it was conducted between a few dozen big companies and foreign trade enterprises, the vast bulk of it today is accounted for by transactions between thousands of small and medium-sized companies. The investment agreement signed during this visit will pave the way for also large companies to re-enter the Russian market. Travel has also changed in character. All this has given the Finns a renewed interest in studying the Russian language. I am pleased and satisfied that relations between our countries have become so uncomplicated, so European.
In the historic speech that you made at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki in 1992, just after you had laid a wreath at the monument to our heroic war dead, Mr. President, you characterised it as a gesture of conciliation. That is also how the Finnish people understood and still appreciate it.
We are living in the midst of change. There is no returning to the old. The confrontation of the Cold War has been replaced by a mutual dependence of many partners. People are free to move. We face new and unknown challenges. Instead of military ones, the threats that our societies face today are international crime and environmental hazards.
Finland's position is stable. It was so already in the Europe of the Cold War. For that reason we have been able to consider calmly what solutions would best enable us to promote our own security and at the same time that of our shared continent. The Finnish people's decision to join the European Union in 1995 increased our opportunities to promote cooperation throughout our continent.
The accession of Finland and Sweden essentially changed the European Union: it acquired a northern dimension and also a common frontier with Russia. Finland has emphasised the Union's northern dimension. In this way, we have underscored the need to create a comprehensive EU programme of action for developing cooperation between Russia and the other countries in the Baltic Sea region. Enlargement of the European Union will further expand the interface between the EU and Russia. Europe needs Russia and Russia needs Europe.
The EU is Russia's biggest trade partner by a substantial margin and more than half of Russia's foreign trade passes through the Baltic. Much of the cooperation taking place in the Baltic and the Barents Sea part of the Euro-Arctic region is between the EU and Russia. The same applies to cooperation between Finland and Russia in our immediate geographical environment.
Europe has changed and the pace of change is stepping up. This is in part a response to the challenges of globalisation. The European Union is continuing on the road of integration and cooperation. Parallel to enlargement of the EU, a majority of the member states will enter an economic and monetary union (EMU) in 1999. With this development, also Russia will be using the euro as the most important invoicing currency in her foreign trade. A new world currency will be born.
The European Union is also the most important partner and source of technology for a reforming Russia. The European and Russian economies complement each other. Cooperation in the energy field in the early part of the next millennium will define the EU's Northern Dimension more clearly than anything else. Europe needs energy, and Russia markets for her energy exports. The interdependence of Europe and Russia is a fact and an important starting point for new cooperation. Without forgetting the permanent importance of national security, I am convinced that the major questions of our era relate to the economy and the safety of the environment.
The greatest challenge that the soon-to-begin 21st century will have to face will be that of rehabilitating our shared environment. Radioactive waste and decaying nuclear power stations pose a threat to all of us. To solve this problem we need broadly-based international cooperation, in which Russia, the EU and the United States will be the principal actors.
The entry into force on 1 December 1997 of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the EU and Russia will open the road towards Russia's integration into the international trade and economic system. Russia's membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) provides the prerequisites for a free-trade relationship between the EU and Russia.
The transformation that has taken place in our geographical environs has been enormous. As I speak to you here in the Kremlin today, I am very satisfied to be able to note that relations between our countries are on an enduring foundation.
The success of the Baltic States and especially of our kindred people the Estonians is a centrally important national question for us Finns. However, I wish to assure you, Mr. President, that the welfare and future of the Russophone population of Estonia is also an important matter for Finland. We support the efforts of the Estonian Government to integrate this segment of the population into Estonian society. The same applies to Latvia. Together with Sweden and the other EU countries, Finland is prepared to support cooperation between areas on both sides of the Russo-Estonian and Russo-Latvian borders. Finland is increasing her aid to Latvia and Lithuania in other respects also.I am convinced that the ongoing integration of all three Baltic States into the European Union is the most important guarantee that the problems of the Russophone populations there will be solved.
The influence of the European Union and its members has been a positive and equilibrium-enhancing factor both in the Baltic States and elsewhere in Eastern and Central Europe. The same applies to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the importance of the principles and European norms that it represents. Thus I see also Finland as working to promote negotiations between Russia and Estonia.
We greet Russia's new policy on the Baltic States with satisfaction and especially the signing of a border agreement with Lithuania. We hope Russia will soon conclude border agreements also with Latvia and Estonia.
We Finns have a vivid memory of how you, Mr. President, flew to Tallinn in January 1991 to demonstrate the support of the Russian people for the Baltic peoples while serious incidents were still continuing in Vilnius and Riga. The world does not forget that it was a democratic Russia that made the liberation of the peoples of the Baltic States possible.
The vicissitudes of great-power politics have always affected the position of Finland. Our ability to respond to the challenges of world politics is founded on the Finnish people's strong will for liberty. Next month, Finland will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of her emergence as an independent state. As an autonomous grand duchy within the Russian Empire, Finland developed into a nation that preserved a Nordic social system and Swedish law. In 1906 the Emperor and Grand Duke consented to convene a unicameral Finnish parliament to be elected by general suffrage, i.e. also by women voters. This reform gave Finland, the most developed part of the Russian Empire, the spearhead role in European democracy.
People, goods and capital flowed freely across the customs border between the Grand Duchy of Finland and the rest of the Empire until 1917. The Bolsheviks' victory in Russia and Finnish independence severed almost all contacts across our border for nearly three decades. After the Second World War, the frontier again opened, initially for goods traffic and later also, unidirectionally, for people. Only now, after a break of over 70 years, is the border between our countries again open for interaction between Finns and Russians.
The road to natural relations between Finland and Russia has been a long one. But I am convinced that our relations are on a lasting foundation. Security is not the erection of barriers, but rather the opening of doors, as President Kekkonen once said, quoting a Finnish writer. Finland and Russia are today united by a common European foundation of values, democracy and respect for human rights. Problems between states are solved on the basis of the OSCE principles. We are proud of the fact that Finland is one of the doors through which, Mr. President, Russia under your leadership is opening up to Russia.
Mr. President, I should like to propose a toast to good relations between Finland and Russia, to the happiness of the Russian people, and to the health and prosperity of yourself and your wife.