Niinistö praises Finland-Sweden defence co-op

President Sauli Niinistö on Friday said that the progress in defence cooperation between Finland and Sweden both in its strictly bilateral form and as part of other entities is an excellent matter.

“For its part, it testifies that we have woken up to the need created by our changing environment. It is good to remain on this path of cooperation,” said Niinistö while addressing the 225th anniversary of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences in Stockholm, according to a statement issued by the President Office.

“Our defence administrations are in contact with each other on a daily basis. When we learn to know our counterparts across the gulf and have continuous contact, this enhances our confidence in each other almost without us even noticing it,” he said.

The President drew attention to the fact that the enhanced defence cooperation between Finland and Sweden is not solely bilateral.

“We are also jointly involved in a whole range of new multilateral arrangements. They form a thickening fabric that strengthens regional stability and improves the defence capability. The trilateral structures we have, on one hand, with the United States and, on the other hand, with Norway are an important part of this entity. The tripartite discussions with the key ministers from Finland, Sweden and Norway – launched at an unofficial meeting in Kultaranta two years ago – will continue,” he added.

He, however, said that all are responsible for their own security and it cannot outsource to anyone else.

“Ultimately, we are all responsible for our own security. That is a responsibility we cannot outsource to anyone else, not even to our closest partner,” he said, adding that therefore, Finland also makes its choices for guaranteeing credible defence on its own, from its own starting points.

“Even having the closest kind of collaboration does not mean that we would automatically follow the same schedule and same direction in every matter. But almost always the Finnish and Swedish interests coincide. And every time they do, we are certainly stronger together than either of us would be on our own,” Niinistö added.

He, however, reminded that military readiness alone is not enough. As the world changes, taking care of security is becoming to an increasing extent the responsibility of every individual citizen.

“Therefore, I am concerned about whether other walks of life have kept up with the defence cooperation. Are we taking the good relations between our countries too much for granted? Do we know each other well enough? Do we all have an obvious counterpart who we can turn to both under normal conditions and when push comes to shove, from Finland to Sweden, from Sweden to Finland? We should wake up to these questions as well,” said the President.

Niinistö also met with his Swedish counterpart Stefan Löfven during his visit.