Finland Times

 

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipilä (L) met Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg (R) in Oslo on Saturday, March 12, 2016. Photo AFP-Lehtikuva

Finland and Norway on Saturday underscored the importance of pursuing the strong and long-established cooperation between the Nordic countries to overcome the migration crisis in Europe.

 

The stance was made in a meeting in Oslo between the visiting Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and his Norwegian counterpart Erna Solberg. “Migration flows in Europe have significantly impacted both Finland and Norway. We both stressed that a responsible European solution must be found for this situation. We also underlined the importance of pursuing the strong and long-established cooperation between the Nordic countries,” and official press release quoted Sipilä as saying after the meeting. 

 

This is Sipilä’s first visit to Norway as the prime minister of Finland. The prime ministers discussed Finland’s and Norway’s excellent bilateral relations, including the development of cooperation in the northern regions. They also exchanged thoughts on the topical economic situation in both countries.  

 

“Norway is a very close and important neighbour of ours and Prime Minister Solberg and I have already met on a number of occasions in various connections.  I’m very happy to be able to visit Oslo now,” said Sipilä. “We are neighbours but there is still much untapped potential in our economic and trade relations. I encourage Finnish companies to look in the direction of the Norwegian markets much more actively than they are doing at the moment.” 

 

The prime ministers also discussed Nordic cooperation and topical international questions such as migration. 

 

Once the discussions were over, the prime ministers watched together the men’s relay of the biathlon World Championships in Holmenkollen. After that Sipilä paid the Finnish team a visit, the press release added.