North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO. Handout Image
The participants also agreed that rapid ratifications for both Finland and Sweden would be in NATO’s interest, and that their membership would strengthen the bloc, the statement said…reports Asian Lite News
Representatives of Sweden, Finland and Turkey held talks in Brussels to discuss progress on fulfilling Turkey’s conditions for agreeing to the Nordic countries’ accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the military bloc said in a statement.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in 2022 but faced objections from NATO-member Turkey on the grounds that the two countries harbour members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group by Ankara.
The accession needs a unanimous agreement by all members of NATO.
According to NATO’s statement, “the participants welcomed the progress that had been made” on a three-way deal called the Trilateral Memorandum, struck last year in Madrid, aimed at satisfying Turkey’s complaints.
The participants also agreed that rapid ratifications for both Finland and Sweden would be in NATO’s interest, and that their membership would strengthen the bloc, the statement said.
“Finland and Sweden have taken unprecedented steps to address legitimate Turkish security concerns. It is now time for all allies to conclude the ratification process and welcome Finland and Sweden as full members of the alliance ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
As agreed in the Memorandum, there won’t be any arms export restrictions between the parties; they need to significantly enhance counter-terrorism cooperation; and Sweden is now in the process of tightening anti-terrorism legislation, including against the PKK.
The three countries on Thursday agreed to meet again in the same format ahead of the NATO summit in July.
Finland starts construction of Russia border fence ( https://raja.fi/en)
A 3-km pilot project at Imatra is expected to be completed by the end of June, the BBC quoted the Border Guard as saying…reports Asian Lite News
Finland has started the construction of a 200 km fence on its border with Russia to boost security. Finland shares the longest European Union border with Russia, at 1,340 km and at present, the Nordic nation’s borders are secured primarily by light wooden fences.
The decision to construct the fence, which according to the Border Guard will be 10ft tall with barbed wire on top, came after large numbers of Russians started fleeing to Finland after President Vladimir Putin ordered a mobilisation of reservists to fight in Ukraine.
The Border Guard said that work on the fence at the Imatra border crossing started on Tuesday with forest clearance, while road construction and fence installation are planned to start in March.
Night vision cameras, lights and loudspeakers will be installed in certain sections of the fence.
A 3-km pilot project at Imatra is expected to be completed by the end of June, the BBC quoted the Border Guard as saying.
Finland had passed new amendments to its Border Guard Act in July last year to allow the building of stronger fences.
The current wooden fences are mainly to prevent livestock crossing the border.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Finland has sought to strengthen its eastern border.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a speech in Ankara, Turkey, on May 18, 2022.(Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua/IANS)
Turkey has postponed a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland on their NATO bids slated to take place in February following the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden…reports Asian Lite News
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey may respond “differently” to Finland’s NATO bid in a way that would “shock” Sweden.
“We may respond differently to Finland if necessary. Sweden would be shocked when we respond differently to Finland. But Finland should not make the same mistake,” Erdogan said at a meeting in the northwestern province of Bilecik on Sunday.
Turkey submitted a list of 120 “terrorists” to Sweden for extradition, the Turkish President said, adding that the Nordic country must extradite these people in order to join the NATO.
It is the first time that Erdogan indicated that Ankara could evaluate ratifying Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership with a different approach, according to the report.
Turkey has postponed a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland on their NATO bids slated to take place in February following the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden.
Sweden and Finland submitted their formal requests to join NATO in May 2022, which were initially objected by Turkey, a NATO member, citing their support for anti-Turkish Kurdish organisations and political dissidents.
A month later, Turkey, Sweden, and Finland reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) ahead of the NATO summit held in Madrid, Spain.
In the MoU, Ankara agreed to lift its veto on the NATO bids by Finland and Sweden, which in return pledged to support Turkey’s fight against terrorism and address its “pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly”.
The Turkish parliament has not ratified the Nordic countries’ NATO bids so far, citing that they have yet to meet Turkey’s requests.
Ukrainian and Finnish Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Sauli Niinisto.(photo:Instagram)
The President informed his Finnish counterpart about the current situation at the frontline of Russia’s ongoing invasion…reports Asian Lite News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his visiting Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto discussed security issues during their meeting in Kiev.
Zelensky and Niinisto talked about regional security, the issues that directly affect the security of Ukraine and Finland, and bilateral defence cooperation.
Zelensky thanked Finland for providing 12 defence assistance packages for Ukraine and helping in restoring Ukraine’s energy sector after the Russian strikes.
Vierailu Ukrainaan on päättynyt. Paljon samansuuntaista ajattelua presidentti Zelenskyin kanssa, sekä sodasta että rauhasta. pic.twitter.com/XAEASp9z64
The President informed his Finnish counterpart about the current situation at the frontline of Russia’s ongoing invasion.
“We also discussed Finland’s participation in the coalition of countries aimed to provide Ukraine with modern Western tanks,” Zelensky said.
For his part, Niinisto informed that Finland has provided assistance worth almost 600 million euros ($653 million) for the war-torn nation and has sheltered about 50,000 Ukrainian citizens.
Tapasin tänään Ukrainan presidentti Zelenskyin Kiovassa. Keskustelimme Venäjän hyökkäyssodan ajankohtaisesta tilanteesta ja Ukrainan tarvitsemasta tuesta.
During their talks, the parties also touched upon the issues of Kiev’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration and exchanged their views on the Ukrainian Peace Formula proposed by Zelensky in November 2022.
Niinisto arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday for his first visit since the war began on February 24, 2022.
Sweden and Finland have been jointly applying to join NATO, but Turkey has so far blocked the expansion…reports Asian Lite News
The United States said on the candidacies of Sweden and Finland for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) that the two Nordic countries are ready and should be added to the world’s strongest defence alliance at the earliest possible opportunity.
Addressing a press briefing on Tuesday, the US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that the US has been very clear about its views on Finland and Sweden’s candidacies for NATO membership in public, as well as in private. “The issue of Sweden and Finland is not a bilateral issue. We have been very clear in public, and we have been very clear in private about our views on Finland and Sweden’s candidacies for NATO membership. We believe they are ready, we believe they should be added to the world’s strongest defence alliance at the earliest possible opportunity,” he said.
Responding to a media query on Finland and Sweden returning to functional dialogue on NATO membership, the US State Department Spokesperson said that the US will continue to voice its support for the candidature of the two Nordic countries.
“We can continue to voice our support for their candidacies. We can continue to engage in public and in private with Turkey and make it clear that we believe that these two countries are ready. That they are prepared, that they should be admitted to the alliance at any possible opportunity,” Price added.
United States State Department Spokesperson Ned Price. (File Photo: State Dept/IANS)
Sweden and Finland have been jointly applying to join NATO, but Turkey has so far blocked the expansion, citing concerns that Sweden needs to crack down on exiled Kurdish militants and their sympathizers and extradite critics of Turkish President Erdogan, reported Euronews.
The joint bid by Sweden and Finland to join NATO requires the approval of all existing members, including Turkey. Until now, the two countries have been committed to joining the alliance together.
Furthermore, the US State Department Spokesperson also spoke at length on the issue of the burning of the Quran in Stockholm, Sweden.
Describing the incident as reprehensible and disgusting, the US State Department Spokesperson said that no one in this administration is voicing any degree of support for this vile action that took place.
Calling Sweden a ‘vibrant democracy’, he further added, “The reason something like this could happen precisely because Sweden upholds freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and when you provide people with those freedoms, you safeguard those freedoms, sometimes they make terrible decisions. They do awful things.”
On Tuesday, the Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto indicated that Finland may have to join NATO without Sweden after Ankara cast doubts on the expansion of the alliance over anti-Turkey protests in Stockholm.
The joint bid by Sweden and Finland to join NATO requires the approval of all existing members, including Turkey. Until now, the two countries have been committed to joining the alliance together, but Haavisto’s comment suggests that this may no longer be the case.
The statement follows a recent Quran-burning protest in Stockholm, which resulted in Turkey ruling out support for Sweden’s bid to join the military alliance. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom has stated that “we are in contact with Finland to find out what is really meant.”
Notably, the Danish-Swedish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan set fire to a duplicate of the Muslim holy e-book on Saturday at the entrance of Turkey’s embassy within the Swedish capital, angering Ankara and Muslim international locations around the globe.
Haavisto mentioned the anti-Turkey protests had “clearly put a brake on the progress” of the purposes by Finland and Sweden to hitch the trans-Atlantic army alliance. (ANI)
The figure for December is the weakest since records began in Finland in 1995. Meanwhile, Finnish consumers’ perception of the state of their country’s economy is the gloomiest on record…reports Asian Lite News
Consumer confidence in Finland hit a record low in December this year, mainly because consumers’ estimates of their own finances are on the decline, according to the country’s statistical agency.
Statistics Finland said the consumer confidence indicator (CCI) stood at -18.5 in December, having been -16.9 in November and -17.6 in October.
The figure for December is the weakest since records began in Finland in 1995. Meanwhile, Finnish consumers’ perception of the state of their country’s economy is the gloomiest on record.
In December, consumers had record-low intentions of spending money on durable goods during the next 12 months. Up to 53 per cent of consumers plan to reduce their spending on durable goods over the next 12 months.
However, the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) also announced Tuesday that the recent decline in commercial confidence had halted in December this year. “Overall, the decline in business confidence came to a halt in December thanks to a rise in confidence in services. Manufacturing was flat, while construction came in slightly down. The biggest drop was in retail trade,” said Sami Pakarinen, director of EK.
Pasi Kuoppamaki, Danske Bank’s chief economist, told Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat that surging inflation, rising interest rates, concerns over the energy crisis, the war in Ukraine, and general uncertainty about the future have worried both consumers and companies.
Finland’s exports will also benefit from this growth. However, the loss of Russian markets will leave a permanent gap in exports…reports Asian Lite News
Finland’s Ministry of Finance has marked down its economic prognosis for 2023. It now predicts a 0.2 per cent GDP decline. Back in September, it projected growth of 0.5 per cent.
“It is difficult to see a path on which growth does not slow in Finland. The risk of a recession is clear, but an even greater risk is remaining locked in old structures and the resulting underutilisation of resources,” Mikko Spolander, Director of the Ministry’s Stability Unit, said on Tuesday.
Finland’s GDP is expected to grow by 1.9 per cent in 2022, decrease by 0.2 per cent in 2023 and increase again by 1.2 and 1.4 per cent in 2024 and 2025, respectively, Xinhua news agency reported.
The country’s GDP began a slight decline in autumn, and weak economic performance is expected to continue over the winter, the Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
A broad rise in prices has cut households’ purchasing power as incomes have not kept pace with prices. However, inflation will slow in 2023 and income growth will accelerate. The economy will recover in 2024 but will not return to the growth track that was previously forecast due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it added.
According to the Ministry, the economic situation in the eurozone is very similar to that in Finland. However, most eurozone countries are suffering from the energy crisis more than Finland because natural gas plays a much greater role in their energy production.
Despite the slowdown in economic growth, the growth in world trade has been brisk and will accelerate after 2023. Finland’s exports will also benefit from this growth. However, the loss of Russian markets will leave a permanent gap in exports.
The employment rate is at a record high at the end of 2022. The number of job vacancies is also quite high. In 2023, the number of employed people will decrease by about 12,000, and the unemployment rate will rise to 7 per cent. Despite the slump, the employment rate will remain strong and begin to grow again in 2024, it said.
The forecast assumes that economic sanctions and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict will remain similar, the Ministry said. New developments in Ukraine may cause significant and rapidly spreading effects on the economy. Should this occur, economic employment growth would be weaker than estimated. On the other hand, the end of the conflict and the start of reconstruction would have significant positive effects on the economy.
The two nations also emphasised the establishment of formal collaborative working groups on issues of common interest…reports Asian Lite News
India and Finland have decided to take their bilateral cooperation to a new level and strengthen their partnership in areas like digital partnership in future ICT, future mobile technologies, and digital education.
Additionally, the two nations also emphasised the establishment of formal collaborative working groups on issues of common interest.
According to an official press release, India’s Union Minister of Science & Technology Jitendra Singh and Finland’s Minister of Education and Culture Petri Honkonen met in New Delhi on Monday. They discussed ways to improve bilateral cooperation between the two nations in the areas of science, technology, and innovation (STI).
In addition to this, high level delegations from both sides met separately in the presence of the two ministers.
While Singh reaffirmed India’s emphasis on collaboration during the meeting, the Finland Minister was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for handling the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the efforts of the Union Government of India to ensure the development of vaccines and vaccination for all citizens.
In the fields of science, technology, and innovation, India and Finland are closely allied, according to the official press release.
The release also added that the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland, along with Business Finland and Academy of Finland, have been working together successfully for more than 10 years within the framework of the S&T agreement.
Representatives of Finland, Sweden and Turkey plan to meet this month to discuss the enlargement of NATO to the north, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters here.
The discussions in Finland should be continued on the basis of the memorandum that the three states signed shortly before the NATO summit in Madrid in June, dpa news agency quoted Haavisto as saying on Friday.
Before that agreement, Turkey had been blocking Sweden’s and Finland’s plans to join the western military alliance.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had accused the two Scandinavian nations of harbouring members of the Syrian YPG Kurdish militia, as well as members of the Gulenist movement.
The YPG is considered to have links to terrorism by some, but is considered by some Western countries to be the most effective fighting force on the ground in Syria against Islamist extremist groups.
Members of the Gulenist network are accused of organising the failed coup attempt in 2016 which claimed the lives of over 300 people.
In the agreement, Finland and Sweden countries promised Turkey, among other things, support against threats to national security.
Deportations are also to be made easier.
In future, meetings of representatives of the three countries should take place alternately in Finland, Sweden and Turkey, Haavisto said.
Earlier, the Finnish Foreign Ministry had raised concerns that the country is being used as a transit country by some Russian tourists to enter the EU before travelling on to their final destination within the bloc…reports Asian Lite News
Finland has pushed for entry bans on Russian tourists to the European Union (EU) during a summit meeting with other Nordic countries and Germany.
“Russian citizens did not start the war, but at the same time we have to realise that they support the war,” Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Monday, echoing a call made days ago by Estonia.
“I don’t think it’s right that Russian citizens can enter the EU and the Schengen area as tourists and go sightseeing while Russia is killing people in Ukraine.”
Finland, which borders Russia and is joining security alliance NATO following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, is already considering ways to unilaterally restrict tourist visas for Russian citizens.
Earlier, the Finnish Foreign Ministry had raised concerns that the country is being used as a transit country by some Russian tourists to enter the EU before travelling on to their final destination within the bloc.
Tourist visa for countries that are part of the so-called Schengen area, which is made up of 22 EU countries as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Lichtenstein, allow tourists to travel freely between the countries.
But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday again spoke out against an EU entry ban for Russians, citing citizens fleeing President Vladimir Putin’s regime.
“All the decisions we make should not make it more complicated for them to seek freedom and leave the country to escape the dictator in Russia,” he said. “It is not the war of the Russian people, it is Putin’s war.”
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the idea should be discussed.
“It is understandable that some Europeans, and perhaps especially Ukrainians, find it a bit strange that Russia has attacked a European country and at the same time we receive tourists from a country that has attacked another country,” she said.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said her government had not yet formed an opinion.
“There are strong arguments on both sides,” she said.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre, whose country is not in the EU, said his country would support any joint action.
Meanwhile, Latvia, who also shared a land border with Russia, has already tightened visa requirements.
