Former President Ahtisaari lashes out at foreign policy critics

Finnish development cooperation celebrates 40 years

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Former President Martti Ahtisaari lashed out on Monday at critics of Finland's current foreign policy. A number of commentators have recently called on Finnish foreign policy leaders to focus less on globalisation issues and international development problems, and to pay more heed to purely Finnish interests.
      "I find this juxtaposition to be quite awkward and fruitless", said Ahtisaari in Helsinki at an event marking the 40th anniversary of Finnish development aid.
      "Their argument is that national security is based exclusively on traditional power politics, and that working with global problems would be fruitless daydreaming of some kind. Naturally, this is not the case", Ahtisaari emphasised.
     
One of the sharpest recent critics of the foreign policy of the Finnish government and President Tarja Halonen has been political scientist Jukka Tarkka, who wrote in his column in Helsingin Sanomat a month ago that the "Halonen-Tuomioja line" is based on daydreams.
      Criticism has also been expressed by Risto Penttilä, head of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA, and by conservative National Coalition Party chairman Jyrki Katainen.
      Ahtisaari responded to the critics, saying that Finland can achieve its vital goals in the new century through broad-based foreign and security policy.
     
Ahtisaari himself was a key figure in diversifying Finnish foreign policy. He was one of the pioneers of Finnish development aid.
      Exactly 40 years ago, in 1965, Ahtisaari and three others - Jaakko Iloniemi, Rauni Turkia, and Elna Juga helped set up a four-room office of development aid at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The move was seen as the launch of Finnish development cooperation activities.
      At Monday's event Paula Lehtomäki (Centre), Finland's Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, noted that in four decades Finnish development cooperation has evolved from the enthusiastic charitable work of the early days to a conscious effort to shift responsibility for development to the recipient countries themselves.
     
Finland launched its development aid programme in the wake of the other Nordic Countries, but has fallen behind its neighbours in the quantity of aid that it provides.
      The other Nordic Countries have already achieved the UN goal of providing 0.7% of GDP in aid, while Finland's corresponding figure last year was just 0.37%.
      Lehtomäki noted that one of Finland's most successful development initiatives was the water project for the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.
      Vietnam, a long-standing recipient of Finnish aid, is an example of the successful completion of one of the goals of development cooperation: the country will soon be able to manage without external aid.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  President raps foreign policy critics at opening of Parliament (3.2.2005)
  From lamentation to real foreign policy (14.12.2004)
  National Coalition chairman dismisses criticism by President Halonen (7.2.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat