Finland Times

 

President Sauli Niinistö spoke at the opening of foreign and security policy debate in Kultaranta on Sunday. Photo Lehtikuva.

President Sauli Niinistö on Sunday said the international order is in the midst of a radical change and the earlier estimation on the changes after the end of the Cold War has to be revised, more so in Europe at the moment.

 

Interdependence did not create any stability, and boundaries have not been eroded, remarked the president in his inaugural speech at a two-day debate on foreign and security policy that began at the president’s summer residence in Kultaranta.

 

“We must also ask what are we Europeans ready to do for our security,” said Niinistö.

 

The president said he was surprised by results of international opinion polls on citizens of different countries on their desire to defend their countries.

 

Niinistö referred to, among others, the low willingness of Germans and Italians to defend their countries.

 

According to Niinistö, the dangers may not be perceived to exist, or probably it is thought that it is someone else’s responsibility. Luckily for Finland, this is still an exception in respect to the situation.

 

President Sauli Niinistö met the press before the opening of the foreign and security policy debate in Kultaranta on Sunday. Photo – Str / Lehtikuva.

The president also stressed that the telecommunications and intelligence network is here to stay, unless there are no capabilities or lack of know-how to defend against it.

 

According to Niinistö, the notion that intelligence does not concern small nations is outdated, to say the least. Intelligence is a sector in the international politics present everywhere.

 

In reference to the president’s forthcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Niinistö said it is very important to take into account Russia’s own wider orientation.

 

The Office of the President in a release confirmed that 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 hold 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.

 

Those invited to take part in the event will include around one hundred foreign and security policy experts and opinion-makers from various sectors of the 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, said the release.