Speech by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at a dinner in honour of President of Cyprus Tassos Papadopoulos on 11 October 2004

It is a great pleasure and honour for me to welcome you, Mr President, and your Cypriot delegation to Finland from the home of Aphrodite and the region where European culture was born.

Cyprus is a popular destination among Finns, and hundreds of Finns have also made Cyprus their home. We hope that Cypriot tourists will also find their way to Finland and will feel as welcome here as Finns do when they visit Cyprus.

Cyprus's and Finland's membership of the European Union has raised our bilateral relations to a new level, though membership in the Union was not a dramatic change for your country. Our cooperation now covers all EU affairs as well as bilateral affairs. Cyprus and Finland are working together to promote peace and prosperity in Europe and the world.

Trade between our countries is regrettably small, but we hope that it will increase in the near future. I am happy to see that a group of business representatives has accompanied you to Finland.

We can also increase our cultural cooperation. Cyprus has a long and distinguished cultural history, and culture also has an important place in Finnish society. There are concrete possibilities for cooperation in art and music and perhaps in archaeology and historical research as well. I am particularly glad to hear that the Helsinki City Art Museum's exhibition of Finnish myths will be opening soon in Nicosia.

Many students from Cyprus do part of their university studies in Finland. Especially worth mentioning are the close contacts between our Orthodox churches. The University of Joensuu, which specializes in training Orthodox religion teachers, receives 10-15 students from Cyprus each year.

When Finland became a member in the European Union, she brought a new geographic dimension to the Union, a common border with Russia. In the same way Cyprus has brought an important new regional dimension to the EU, its location in the eastern Mediterranean. Your experience and your firm position are an important resource for the Union in its relations with the countries in this region.

Finland and Cyprus engaged in fruitful cooperation during the Intergovernmental Conference in a group of like-minded countries. This resulted in significant improvements in the constitutional treaty, which ensure the member states' equality and the effectiveness of the Union's activities. We still have many subjects of common interest in the Union, from the budget to the development of external activities.

The European Union will decide in December whether to start membership negotiations with Turkey. On the basis of the Commission's progress report Finland supports the start of membership negotiations with Turkey. We have also noted Cyprus's constructive attitude to this matter.

In our opinion starting membership negotiations will promote progress in Turkey and would have a positive effect on efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem as well.

Integration has increased European stability in a key way. The enlargement of the EU is eliminating the post-Second World War division of Europe. Despite our disappointment in the spring, Finland is convinced that the Government of Cyprus is committed to the unification and we hope that the line dividing Cyprus will be relegated to history the same way as in other parts of Europe.

Relations between our countries have always been excellent and Finland has been visibly present in Cyprus. In 1964 ambassador Sakari Tuomioja served as the first UN mediator in the Cyprus crisis. Finland has also participated from the start in UNFICYP and we have sent the second largest number of troops for this operation. Over 10,000 Finns have served in UN peacekeeping operations in Cyprus during the past 40 years.

Cyprus opened its embassy in Helsinki in March 2002 and Finland opened its embassy in Nicosia in July 2004. Through them we can develop our bilateral relations even more effectively. In this context, I would also like to thank the Severis Family for their dedicated work through out the years as Honorary Consuls of Finland.

I would like to present our nation's congratulations and best wishes to the people of Cyprus. Let us drink to your health and to the strengthening of cooperation between the people of Finland and Cyprus.