Finland welcomes Medvedev
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s today arrived Helsinki to meet with Finnish President Tarja Halonen. The two-day visit comes less than a week after Finland presented its new Action Plan on Russia, a document which proposes extended Finnish-Russian cooperation.
President Medvedev will today first take part in a reception ceremony in front of the Presidential Palace after which bilateral talks with Tarja Halonen will be held, the Finnish President’s website informs. Mr. Medvedev will today also hold a lecture in the Helsinki University. The visit is Medvedev’s first to Finland.
The visit to Finland comes just few days after Finland adopted its new Russia Action Plan. As BarentsObserver reported last week, the new plan presents guidelines for the management of the Finland’s further relations with Russia.
The basis for Finland’s Russia policy is bilateral relations, as well as Finland’s membership in the EU, the document reads. The plan includes a major emphasis of Russia’s needed integration in European developments.
“Finland has strong ties with Russia on all levels. It is in our interest to develop the cooperation further. That includes an intensive and open dialogue and relation both bilaterally and between the EU and Russia”, the plan reads.
In last week’s press conference on the document, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb both underlined that the Action Plan primarily aims at improving expertise in Russian affairs among Finnish officials and the Finnish public. The background is a need to enhance cooperation with Russia in all sectors of public administration, a government press release reads.
The plan also has a major focus on practical interaction within cross-border procedures, travel, trade and customs and labor migration. Finland is calling on the other Schengen countries and Russia to ease the EU’s and Russia’s agreement on visa facilitation and exploit the possibilities and flexibility which therein follow.
“Finland seeks an efficient and flexible visa regime and considers it important that this is the case on both sides of the border”. In 2008, Finland issued about 700,000 visas to Russians. About 80 percent of those were multiple visas.
The plan also proposes facilitated regulations on work immigration, as well as customs restrictions.
The document also proposes enhanced cooperation with the field of energy. Finnish petroleum know-how is to be promoted in Russia, also in projects in the Barents Region. A three-part cooperation with Norway and Russia is to help Finnish interests in oil and gas projects, as well as infrastructure in Northwest Russia.
