Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Monday that relations between Stockholm, Helsinki and Minsk were on the rise lately, and economic cooperation was intensifying, although some controversial issues, including in the field of democracy and human rights, remained in place
MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2019) Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said on Monday that relations between Stockholm, Helsinki and Minsk were on the rise lately, and economic cooperation was intensifying, although some controversial issues, including in the field of democracy and human rights, remained in place."We have many questions on which we have not yet reached an agreement, it's not only human rights, democracy ... It is very important for us to continue an open discussion, to open up all the untapped potential of cooperation between our states. Our relations have improved significantly over the past year, we welcome this trend, an increase in the level of cooperation between countries, including economic cooperation," Linde said during a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The diplomat added that she saw great opportunities for increased cooperation between Belarusian and Swedish companies.
Commenting on her visit to Minsk with a colleague from Helsinki, Linde said that "Finland, Sweden and Belarus are countries of the same region, we have something to discuss, we have common problems, for example, climate change."
In turn, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said at a meeting with Lukashenko that relations between the countries were "really good, pragmatic."
The diplomat stressed that their countries witnessed positive trends in developing trade and economic cooperation.
According to Haavisto, Belarus and Finland have good prospects for cooperation in the field of forestry and agriculture, as well as in nuclear energy.
Lukashenko confirmed his country's interest in using Finland's experience in ensuring the safety of nuclear power plants.
"Given the upcoming launch of the Belarusian NPP in 2020, we are interested in the Finnish side's experience in ensuring the safety of the Hanhikivi-1 plant that is under construction. Especially that your station is being built in a similar project by the same Russian contractor," the president said during the meeting.
Lukashenko also expressed Minsk's interest in building a strong dialogue with the European Union and emphasized that it was important to complete the formation of the legal framework with the EU, preferably without further preconditions.
"Belarus is extremely interested in building mutually respectful and good neighborly relations not only with the European Union, but also with your states - Sweden and Finland, for us you are in a certain sense a model of management ... I hope you will tell us in which direction to move, first of all, in the economy. Therefore, we are very interested in building good relations with you," the Belarusian leader said.
Lukashenko stressed that Belarus had a lot in common with the Northern European countries and that he was looking forward to closer cooperation.
