Speech by President of the Republic at a dinner in honour of President of Mozambique on 31 March 2003

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My husband and I have the great pleasure of welcoming you cordially to Finland, President Chissano. In this connection I would like to express my thanks for the hospitality you showed us during our state visit to Mozambique last September. My husband and I have very warm and pleasant memories of that visit.

Today’s international situation is grave. The coalition led by the United States has commenced military operations in Iraq. Finland considers it regrettable that military action has been taken without a specific authorization of the UN Security Council.

We do not yet know where this will lead and how many victims the war will claim. The humanitarian situation has grown even worse than before. I hope that the war will end as soon as possible.

Finland considers it indispensable for the UN and its special organizations to have a key role and responsibility in the preparation and implementation of future decisions and measures concerning Iraq.

During our decades of cooperation, Mozambique has become Finland's most important development cooperation partner. To make this cooperation more effective we have decided to strengthen resources for this purpose, and this includes both financial and human resources. I hope that in this way Finland can more effectively influence our cooperation to promote development work in the areas of democracy and the economy. An important resource in addition to official forms of cooperation is networking between non-governmental organizations in our two countries, which helps to establish and strengthen the development of civil society.

We have been pleased to note that your country has in the past ten years been one of the fastest-developing countries in the region economically. We also appreciate your country's significance as a regional actor, which your role as the chairman of the African Union from the beginning of July will reinforce. Mr President, I wish you success in this demanding and important task, in which you will direct significant processes for your region's future, involving key areas of development mentioned in NEPAD's founding document such as democracy, human rights, peace and good governance.

Our countries' bilateral trade relations are quite modest at present. You have had an opportunity to meet Finnish business representatives today. I hope that in these discussions you have been able to evaluate possibilities to develop market-based commercial cooperation.

During our visit to Mozambique, I had the great pleasure and honour of opening a school in Moamba. In helping rebuild the school we wish to emphasize the significance of education - equal education - as the most important factor in development work in different areas of society. Finland is still ready to participate with you in developing this key area of cooperation.

During the visit of our delegation we also had a chance to learn about your country's rich culture. I would like to share my experience with other Finns and hope that burgeoning cultural exchange between our countries will diversify and expand to broader sections of society in Finland and Mozambique.