Office of the President of the Republic
Press release 34/2018
23 August 2018
President of France Emmanuel Macron and his spouse Brigitte Macron will make an official visit to Finland on 29–30 August 2018. The visit will be hosted by President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö together with Mrs Jenni Haukio.
The visit will begin with a welcoming ceremony and a gala dinner in the Presidential Palace on the evening of Wednesday 29 August. The public may follow the welcoming ceremony from the Market Square at around 19.45, weather permitting.
President Niinistö and President Macron will hold their official discussions in the Presidential Palace on Thursday morning. They will be discussing security and defence policy, relations with Russia and the United States, Arctic questions, climate change and the state of the rules-based multilateral international order, among other matters. Afterwards the Presidents will hold a joint press conference in the Hall of Mirrors of the Presidential Palace.
After the press conference, President Macron will visit Aalto University together with Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and learn about Finnish innovations. Prime Minister Sipilä and President Macron will have a working lunch in Kesäranta, the Prime Minister’s Official Residence, where they will be discussing topical EU matters, such as the EMU, migration and EU defence policy. Following their lunch, Prime Minister Sipilä and President Macron will hold a press conference.
Mrs Jenni Haukio and Mrs Brigitte Macron will visit the soon opening New Children’s Hospital in Helsinki and the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress on Thursday.
This is President Macron’s first visit to Finland. President Niinistö’s latest visit to France was in 2015 when he attended the Paris Climate Change Conference. He made an official visit to France in 2013.