President of Finland to be guest speaker at Session of the Nordic Council

21.10.22 | News
Finlands president Sauli Niinistö.

Finlands president Sauli Niinistö.

Photographer
Jon Norppa/Republikens presidents kansli
President of Finland Sauli Niinistö will be a guest speaker at the 74th Session of the Nordic Council, which will be held in Helsinki from 31 October to 3 November.

President Niinistö will give his speech before the Nordic Council on 1 November. The theme for the speech is the importance of Nordic co-operation in a changing security situation. 

The President’s speech will be broadcast live online starting at 16:30 Finnish time (link below) and will be followed by a plenary debate. Both the speech and the debate will be interpreted in Finnish, Scandinavian, Icelandic and English.

It’s tradition for the Nordic Council to invite a high-profile guest speaker to its annual autumn Session. Last year, Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg was the guest speaker and the theme was defence and security.

“We’re honoured to have the President of Finland Sauli Niinistö as a guest speaker and very much look forward to what he has to say. Especially now, considering the Russian war of aggression and the troubled times we live in, it’s important that the Nordic Council takes part in and actively contributes to the discussion about what can be done to solve the crises and support Ukraine. It’s also important that we demonstrate a united Nordic front in how we handle the major challenges facing the whole world,” says the President of the Nordic Council, Erkki Tuomioja.

Theme of the Session: The role of the Nordic Region in the world

The 74th Session of the Nordic Council will be held at the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki and will officially open on 1 November at 14:30. During the opening day, in addition to the speech by President Niinistö, there will be a summit between the Nordic Council and the Nordic prime ministers on the topic of future Nordic co-operation and the role of the Nordic Region in Europe and around the world.

Finland will host this year’s autumn Session as the country holds the Presidency of the Nordic Council in 2022. Next year, Norway will hold the Presidency.

The Nordic Council was established in 1952 and is the Nordic Region’s official inter-parliamentary body. It has 87 members from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland.

 

Contact:

Niina Aagaard

niiaag@norden.org +45 60 39 06 00

Riikka Hietajärvi

press@tpk.fi +358 50 304 7997