NATO hopeful Finland will not seek special requests as preconditions for membership and or aim to build a regional bloc within the alliance, President Sauli Niinistö said during an official state visit to Norway on Monday.
In a speech at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) in Oslo on Monday (10 October), Niinistö outlined the country’s future position within the military alliance. He said Finland seeks to develop its profile “naturally” and according to changing circumstances”.
Without going into detail, Niinistö said he was looking for “a lot of” Nordic cooperation stemming from mutual “identity and mindset” but was quick to point out that Finland is not seeking to build any kind of regional bloc within NATO.
“We will look at the Baltic Sea region as a whole; we will look at the alliance as a whole. We are not just asking what NATO can do for us. We are also thinking about what we can do for NATO, committing to the security of the whole alliance,” he said.
In his speech, the president also said that Finland is opening separate negotiations on defence cooperation with the US, which would be similar to Norway’s agreement with its North Atlantic partner. Läs artikel