President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö made an official visit to Norway on 10 and 11 October 2022.
The visit started on Monday 10 October in Oslo at a seminar organised by the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute (NUPI), where President Niinistö was the keynote speaker.
“We are now living in a new reality”, the president said in his speech. “The end of the war – Russia’s brutal war of aggression against a sovereign country, against its neighbour – is unfortunately nowhere in sight. The news this morning are a case in point: the indiscriminate attacks on Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine.”
According to President Niinistö, the effects of the war, however, do not stop in Ukraine. The security situation in all of Europe is more precarious than it has been for a very long time. “If we needed a reminder of the dangers for us here in the North of Europe, we recently received one. The explosions in the Baltic Sea two weeks ago, leading to gas leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines, need to be thoroughly investigated.”
“We must be vigilant”
In the coming months, our resilience will be severely tested, and we need to prepare for surprises, the President said. “Maintaining our unity, maintaining our resilience, will require constant efforts from every single one of us. We must be vigilant. We must be ready for hard choices. And we must make them by sticking together”, the President said.
President Niinistö also said that when “the whole Nordic family” belongs to NATO, Nordic cooperation is born naturally. “But let me stress this: Finland is not seeking to build any kind of a regional bloc within NATO. We will look at the Baltic Sea region as a whole. We will look at the Alliance as a whole.”
After President Niinistö’s keynote speech, he and Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre discussed the topic further. The discussion was moderated by Ulf Sverdrup, Director of NUPI.
After the NUPI seminar, President Niinistö met with King Harald V of Norway, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon at the Royal Palace.
In the afternoon, President Niinistö held bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Gahr Støre at the Prime Minister’s official residence. The topics were the security policy situation in Europe, Russian military operations in Ukraine, energy issues and cooperation between Finland and Norway in the fields of foreign, security and defence policy.
At the end of the discussions, the President and the Prime Minister held a joint press conference.
On Tuesday 11 October, President Niinistö met with Norwegian Minister of Defence Bjørn Arild Gram. The President and the Minister of Defence discussed the situation in Ukraine, Finland’s NATO membership and the Nordic Defence Cooperation (Nordefco).
Later in the day, the President visited the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, where he spoke with Masud Gharahkhani, President of the Storting, and members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.
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Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, and Ulf Sverdrup, Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, received President Sauli Niinistö at Litteraturhuset in Oslo on 10 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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At an event held by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, President Sauli Niinistö spoke about the Nordic approach to the security situation in Europe at Litteraturhuset in Oslo on 10 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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At an event held by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, President Sauli Niinistö spoke about the Nordic approach to the security situation in Europe at Litteraturhuset in Oslo on 10 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Niinistö and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (right) in a discussion moderated by NUPI Director Ulf Sverdrup (center). Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Niinistö and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in a discussion moderated by NUPI Director Ulf Sverdrup. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Sauli Niinistö met King Harald V of Norway, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon at the Royal Castle in Oslo on 10 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Niinistö held bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at the Prime Minister’s official residence. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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The joint press conference between President Niinistö and Norwegian Prime Minister Gahr Støre in Oslo on 10 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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On Tuesday 11 October, President Niinistö met with Norwegian Minister of Defence Bjørn Arild Gram. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Sauli Niinistö visited the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, on 11 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Niinistö and Ine Eriksen Søreide, Chairman of the Norwegian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence in Oslo on 11 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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Discussions with the Norwegian Parliament's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence in Oslo on 11 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Sauli Niinistö met with Masud Gharahkhani, President of the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, in Oslo on 11 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Sauli Niinistö met with Masud Gharahkhani, President of the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, in Oslo on 11 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, and Ulf Sverdrup, Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, received President Sauli Niinistö at Litteraturhuset in Oslo on 10 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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At an event held by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, President Sauli Niinistö spoke about the Nordic approach to the security situation in Europe at Litteraturhuset in Oslo on 10 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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At an event held by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, President Sauli Niinistö spoke about the Nordic approach to the security situation in Europe at Litteraturhuset in Oslo on 10 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Niinistö and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (right) in a discussion moderated by NUPI Director Ulf Sverdrup (center). Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Niinistö and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in a discussion moderated by NUPI Director Ulf Sverdrup. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Sauli Niinistö met King Harald V of Norway, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon at the Royal Castle in Oslo on 10 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Niinistö held bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at the Prime Minister’s official residence. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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The joint press conference between President Niinistö and Norwegian Prime Minister Gahr Støre in Oslo on 10 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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On Tuesday 11 October, President Niinistö met with Norwegian Minister of Defence Bjørn Arild Gram. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Sauli Niinistö visited the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, on 11 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Niinistö and Ine Eriksen Søreide, Chairman of the Norwegian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence in Oslo on 11 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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Discussions with the Norwegian Parliament's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence in Oslo on 11 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Sauli Niinistö met with Masud Gharahkhani, President of the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, in Oslo on 11 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
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President Sauli Niinistö met with Masud Gharahkhani, President of the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, in Oslo on 11 October 2022. Photo: Matti Porre / Office of the President of the Republic of Finland