Finland Times

 

President Sauli Niinistö and first lady Jenny Haukio in Kultaranta. File Photo Lehtikuva.

President Sauli Niinistö will host a debate on foreign and security policy in Kultaranta, the summer residence of the head of the republic, in Naantali on the southwest coast in mid-June. 

 

The third Kultaranta talks will be held on 14–15 June, 2015 and discussion topics will include the broader development of the international situation as well as Finland's national security, said a press release issued by the President’s Office on Friday.

 

This year, for the first time, speakers will include international visitors. Strobe Talbott, President of the Brookings Institution and former US Deputy Secretary of State, Alexei Kudrin, Chairman of the Committee of Civil Initiatives and former Russian Minister of Finance, and Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference will participate in a discussion on “The World Disorder?”. 

 

Other sessions and working groups will feature topics including Finland's challenges, the West and the state of democracy, the outlook for Russian development, and intelligence, terrorism and security.

 

The participants invited to the event will include around one hundred foreign and security policy experts and opinion-makers from various sectors of society, including political decision-makers, researchers and representatives of administrative branches, business life, various organisations and the media. 

 

The event is being organised in cooperation with the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, the press release added.