Last stop in Helsinki. US President Joe Biden arrived in Finland on Thursday 13 July for a one-day visit, ending his European tour, where he attended the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the Alliance’s leaders have shown their support for Ukraine.
Joe Biden will participate in a summit between the United States and the Nordic countries together with the leaders of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway.
He will also hold a press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto before returning to Washington.
Turning the page on decades of neutrality imposed by Moscow after the Second World War and then military independence since the end of the Cold War, Finland operated last year, after the launch of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, a safe move by asking to remain member of NATO, at the same time as Sweden. It finally became the 31st member of the Atlantic alliance on April 4, a setback for Moscow.
This country, which shares a border with Russia that is more than 1,300 kilometers long, was, until the invasion of Ukraine, an advocate of dialogue between Westerners and Russia.
An attitude that had materialized in 2018 at a summit on its territory that brought together the then US President Donald Trump and his counterpart Vladimir Putin.
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US-Nordic cooperation
Thursday’s discussions should focus on “cooperation between the Nordic countries and the United States on security, environmental and technology issues”, according to the Finnish presidency.
A White House official said Joe Biden would welcome Finland’s entry into the alliance. The US president is also expected to discuss climate change and new technologies.
This visit is the last part of Joe Biden’s European tour, after a visit to London and the NATO summit in Vilnius, which is largely devoted to the war in Ukraine.
The West presented a plan of long-term commitments to Ukraine’s security on Wednesday, the second day of a summit that dashed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hopes of achieving a precise timetable for his country’s integration into the Alliance.
The summit was also marked by progress towards membership for Sweden, which is applying together with Finland in May 2022.
With AFP
