SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND
MR. MARTTI AHTISAARI
AT A DINNER HOSTED BY PRESIDENT MANUEL CHAVES
OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ANDALUSIA
3 FEBRUARY 1999

I wish to express my warm thanks for the kind reception that you, Mr. President Manuel Cháves and Señora Antonia Iborra, have arranged for us. Thank you also for the friendly words that you have addressed to my country and to me.

As a person who has visited Finland and held an influential position in the previous Government of Spain, you are known and appreciated as a friend of our country.

Relations between Finland and Spain have never been so close as they are today. I am confident that our partnership in the European Union since 1995 will lead to a deepening of cooperation between our countries and peoples. The significance of geographical distance is constantly declining and dealings between countries are no longer limited to traditional diplomacy.

We all share a European identity and a will to make our continent a community that we all own and run, a place where every state’s, every region’s own national and traditional identity is preserved and enriches our cooperation. Integration is an ongoing process and the prophet who could say where it is taking us has not yet been born. Every generation sets its own goals in that respect.

I am especially pleased that as part of this state visit I have the opportunity to see one of Spain’s most important autonomous regions and its renowned capital Seville. It is exactly with Andalusia that we associate much of the romanticism, sunny nature, old culture, culinary pleasures, friendly people and gaiety that we denizens of the cold North seek in Spain. Thousands of Finns have discovered this region and especially the Costa del Sol as a place to make their second home and even more - including me - choose Andalusia as their holiday destination. I express my thanks for the kindness and hospitality that my compatriots have always been accorded here.

Links between Finland and Andalusia go a lot further back than the tourism that began in the 1960s. Our cooperation has much deeper roots in history. The first example that I could mention involves the lifework of that great Spanish writer, intellectual and Andalusian native son Angel Ganivet. His classical book "Cartas Finlandesas", which was first serialised in the newspaper "El Defensor de Granada", sets forth the impressions that he formed while serving as a consul in Helsinki in 1896-97. Thus it is fair to say that the first large group of people in Spain to obtain knowledge about faraway Finland were the Andalusians. Now that we are living in completely different circumstances and have been getting to know each other better and better, it is interesting to note that Ganivet’s observations and his comparisons between the Finnish and Andalusian ways of life and customs are still apposite even after the passage of a century. Another literary figure that I want to mention is Federico García Lorca, whose poetry describing the cultural and social traditions of Andalusia have found a permanent place in the hearts of the Finns and inspired also our artists. November last year saw the publication of a collection of poems, produced jointly by Finns and Spaniards and entitled "Entre el Sisu y el Embrujo".

Finland and Andalusia share a love of music. I know that Finnish composers and musicians are esteemed here, as the Sibelius programme performed by the Lahti Philharmonic at the famous music festival in Granada last summer demonstrated. And, of course, the melancholy Finnish tango has won many adherents at Granada’s international festival. For us Finns, the flamenco and the sevillanas have likewise always symbolised the rich music and dance culture of Andalusia. Although we are sometimes described as stiff, the rhythms of the flamenco have always gripped us. Thus it is not surprising that in recent years more and more Andalusian artists and top-level directors have featured on the programmes of Finland’s many dance festivals and schools. They have helped give enthusiastic Finnish audiences a taste of the atmosphere for which Seville’s Feria de Abril festival is famous.

Andalusia and its capital Seville have been among the great world centres for centuries. During the great voyages of exploration and afterwards, Latin America and other Spanish possessions were administered from here. Seville became a focal point of world attention again seven years ago when the EXPO-92 world fair was held here. We know that it was one of the most successful of all time. I am pleased that Finland’s participation in EXPO-92 was a success and that our distinctive pavilion "Hell’s Gorge" is still in use serving as a showpiece of architecture and a venue for exhibitions.

Economic cooperation between Finland and Andalusia is likewise of central importance in our relations. As the world’s leading olive oil producer, you will certainly be pleased to hear that this healthy ingredient is featuring more and more prominently in Finnish diets.

In addition to your foodstuffs, we in Finland also hold your industrial products in high esteem. In return, our traditional export items paper and pulp and in recent years new products like telecoms equipment have found steady markets in Andalusia. Our copper industry has also invested in your region.

I am aware of the great influence that this autonomous region wields within Spain and of the importance of Andalusian companies in the Spanish economy. Therefore I hope that your direct contacts with Finland and its economic sector will continue to expand and grow in liveliness.

In the same conjunction as I express my thanks for this dinner, may I propose a toast to you, Mr. President Manuel Chaves González and Señora Antonia Iborra, to the success of the Government and people of Andalusia and to Finno-Andalusian friendship.