Government wants better coordination of relations with Russia

According to sources in the Finnish civil service, the government’s new Russia programme has found that dealing with Finland’s relations with Russia has spread to many different administrative areas, none of which have a comprehensive picture of the whole field.
     The proposed programme, which is coming before the government for approval, is the first attempt by the government to draw up a unified proposal on prospects of Finnish relations with Russia, their focal points, and their coordination.
     The sources say that the programme takes the view that dealing with relations with Russia needs to be taken under the “comprehensive guidance” of the government. This would mean regular discussions on relations with Russia in the government, and a continuous gathering of information from numerous different areas, starting from immigration.
     
The programme defines Finland’s starting points in supporting government decision-making over Russia as the goals set by the European Union, in addition to a bilateral “modern European neighbour relationship”.
      According to the draft programme, a Russia forum of experts and non-governmental organisations is to be set up, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, while the Minister for Foreign Affairs would be responsible for the preparation for directing relations with Russia.
      Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) and Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) are to draw up a new plan of action after Thursday’s meeting of the government. Strengthening of the coordination of Russia policy is called for in the government’s policy programme, and work on it was launched already when Stubb’s predecessor, Ilkka Kanerva, was Foreign Minister.
     
Civil servants say that President Tarja Halonen was consulted during preparation of the programme. The outcome got the approval of the security policy committee, comprising the President and government representatives at a meeting held two weeks ago.
      During the preparation of the programme, Russia was seen as a “moving target”, with events such as the war between Georgia and Russia in August, and the economic crisis making it more difficult to draw up assessments.
     Officials say that the assessment of Russia is straightforward, but it avoids making forecasts. Russia has great problems in development that have not been resolved, and the economic crisis is causing further complications. However, the draft programme mentions that Russia could also rise out of the economic crisis fairly quickly, because the crisis has not reduced the volume of its raw material exports - only the prices.
     The government’s Russia programme will be released in Finnish, Swedish, English, and Russian. The translations are expected to be ready before Russian President Dmitri Medvedev starts his visit to Finland on Monday next week.

More on this subject:
 President Medvedev to make public appearance in Helsinki on Monday

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Stubb to Lavrov: “Finland is not neutral” (10.11.2008)
  Russian burial ground for toxic waste seen as an environmental time bomb (31.3.2009)
  Stubb: Europe and USA should move forward together in relations with Russia (5.3.2009)
  Trade with Russia plummets in January (13.3.2009)
  Researcher: Russian empire will return, but will not be a threat to neighbours (6.3.2009)