President Niinistö : Spirit of Helsinki is needed

Sauli Niinistö, President of the Republic of Finland, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-sixth session.

Sauli Niinistö President of Finland said the world needed a rekindling „of the Helsinki spirit“ in his address to the 76th General Debate of the United Nations
General Assembly. The president was referring to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe which lead to the singing of the „Helsinki accords“ in 1975.  

„The spirit that arose from that meeting can have a more global significance, if we succeed in reviving and expanding it,“ Mr. Niinistö said. „A willingness of adversaries and competitors to engage in dialogue, to build trust, and to seek common denominators – that was the essence of the Helsinki Spirit. It is precisely that kind of a spirit that the entire world, and the United Nations,urgently needs. I am convinced that the more we speak about the Helsinki Spirit, the
closer we get to rekindling it – and to making it come true.“

Our Common Agenda

Secretary-General António Guterres (right) meets with Sauli Niinistö, President of the Republic of Finland.

In his speech the President said that Finland warmly welcomes the ambitious approach put forward in the Secretary-General’s “Our Common Agenda”.

„It is easy to agree with one of the key statements in that document: “In our biggest shared test since the Second World War, humanity faces a stark and urgent choice: a breakdown or a breakthrough,“ Mr.Niinistö said.

He stressed that to end this pandemic, the solution has to be global.

COVAX

„Working through COVAX, Finland is strongly committed to vaccine solidarity.“ He added, that it is high time to take concrete steps to improve our common health security beyond the
current challenges.

„To improve our resilience, we need a One Health approach. Enhancing international collaboration on research and development, and exchanging information on
emerging threats is vital. We must ensure the effective functioning of the multilateral global health institutions, such as the World Health Organization,“ the Finnish president said in his speech at the General Assembly.

See the president´s speech here.