Mauno KoivistoMr. President, Harri HolkeriPrime Minister, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Introduction
First, thank you for those kind words, for the warm welcome to Finland and for your generous hospitality. We all remember your own very happy and successful visit to Britain in 1984. And we have also had very welcome visits from two Finnish Prime Ministers since then.
Now at last I am fulfilling my ambition to come to Finland. Sadly I shall not see very much, because it is only a short visit. But we are cramming in as much as we can. And even a short time here is enough for one to experience the Finnish people's remarkable talents in [end p1] every area—architecture, design, music, sport—their deep attachment to democracy, and their quiet courage and the fierce independence which is such an important part of their character. And those qualities are embodied in you Mauno KoivistoMr. President, as the nation's highest representative.
The History
I am always intrigued as I travel around Europe by the colour and the variety of the history which links our various countries. The history of Britain and Finland is no exception. We all know the story of the rather over-enthusiastic welcome you gave to the first British visitor to your country, Bishop Henry. You beheaded him. We are all entitled to our views on Bishops, but that's really going too [end p2] far.
By contrast, we Britons were for a long time rather well behaved. A Briton built Finland's first lighthouse, another one Finland's first spinning mill. We bought from you the tar which held together Nelson 's ships at the Battle of Trafalgar. But I am afraid to say that during the Crimea War we attacked your ports and the great Suomenlinna fortress just a few hundred yards from here. Such is the stuff of which centuries of history are made.
When we come closer to the present day, our overwhelming feeling in Britain for Finland is one of admiration. It was expressed most eloquently by Winston Churchill, who always found the most marvellous words, when he paid [end p3] tribute to your country during the Winter War in 1940:
“Finland alone—in danger of death, superb example of what free men can do” .
We admired you as you stood alone and fought for your independence then, against overwhelming odds, in a way which touched the hearts and imagination of everyone of our people—and how well I remember it.
We admired you no less over the ensuing years, during which you were quietly determined to survive as an independent state and to stand by your chosen policy of neutrality in difficult and often lonely circumstances. It took just as much sisu [Grit, or perseverance; guts (Oxford English-Finnish Dictionary).] and perseverance to do that as it [end p4] did to fight Stalin 's tanks. (Sisu is that peculiar Finnish quality: none of us quite know what it is, but we all want to have it.)
Now, with the end of the Cold War, those years of endurance have all been worthwhile. We are seeing our hopes and dream of an undivided and democratic Europe begin to come true. The special links to the small Baltic States so close by: and the understanding gleaned from your own history; combine to give Finland a very important part to play in shaping the future of this part of the world. [end p5]
Bilateral Relations
Mr. President, as we agreed this morning, there aren't really any problems in relations between Britain and Finland, so we were able to spend our time talking about wider problems. But can I pay tribute to those in both countries who have ensured that relations are so good—and very high among them rank the businessmen and industrialists who have built up such a flourishing two-way trade. The balance is very much in Finland's favour. Fortunately the gap is narrowing but there's a little way to go yet.
Finnish products have a very high reputation in Britain because of their excellent design and quality. I am disappointed that my programme [end p6] seems to have been arranged so as to keep me out of Helsinki's shops.
The Helsinki Accords
Mr. President, Helsinki's name will for ever be associated with the Helsinki Accords of 1975 and with the CSCE Conference. Your City is synonymous with one of the most important and influential international agreements in the second part of this century. The Helsinki Process gave us in the West the right to raise human rights issues in our dealings with the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. Nothing gave greater encouragement to the brave people in those countries, or did more to help keep alive their dream of democracy and the rule of law. [end p7]
The CSCE Summit in Paris later this year should see another great step forward. I recently proposed that we should agree at that Summit upon a European Magna Carta, to entrench for every European citizen the basic rights which we in the West take for granted. I have also called for the European Community to be open to all the East European countries who are democracies and have market economies and want to join. That is the best contribution which we in Western Europe can make to their stability and their future.
We are very determined, also, to make a success of the negotiations between the European Community and EFTA to establish a European Economic Area. It is a very worthwhile [end p8] objective—and does not rule out eventual EC membership for EFTA countries should they decide to apply.
Finland and the UN
Mr. President, we are immensely grateful too for the very active role which Finland traditionally plays in the United Nations, both in its peacekeeping activities and through the Secretariat. That is particularly important at this time, when you are a member of the Security Council and in the chair of the Sanctions Committee—both of them absolutely crucial.
We also have particularly in mind the enormous contribution made by Mr. Ahtisaari, as personal representative of the United Nations [end p9] Secretary General, to bringing Namibia to independence on the basis of free and fair elections. He and I last met there, on the first day that the UN took over responsibility, and we shall both always remember the very difficult circumstances. But we came to a successful conclusion.
The UN and the Gulf
The United Nations is right at the centre of our attention at the moment following Iraq's attack on Kuwait. If Iraq were allowed to get away with that, the rule of force would be substituted for the rule of law and everything for which the United Nations stands would be at risk. That is why we and the Americans and several other countries have sent forces to the Gulf to defend the countries which are [end p10] threatened by Iraq, to implement and enforce the sanctions on which the UN has decided and thereby to achieve Iraq's withdrawal and the restoration of the legitimate government of Kuwait. As a relatively small country which has had to defend its independence, Finland has strongly supported that. And of course we all have a deep interest in upholding the authority of the United Nations, and ensuring that an aggressor is never allowed to get his way.
Toast
Mr. President:
May I thank you once again for your kindness and hospitality. [end p11]
May I assure you that Finland has and will always continue to have a special place in British hearts.
And may I ask all our guests to rise and drink a toast to the health of the President and to the Republic of Finland.