Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) says that the government is ready to discuss increased cooperation with NATO.
Vanhanen made his comments in an interview published in Thursday’s editions of the Tampere newspaper Aamulehti and the Turku daily Turun Sanomat.
NATO has indicated that it wants to increase cooperation with countries outside the organisation. One of the goals of the project is to allow countries that are not member states to be involved in the planning of NATO operations.
Vanhanen says that Finland takes a positive view of NATO’s most recent initiative.
"This is a welcome discussion for us. We are positively curious about where this discussion will lead", Vanhanen said in the interview.
Vanhanen says that the government is ready to discuss closer cooperation already before the organisation holds its November summit in the Latvian capital Riga.
He does not agree with the interpretation, under which taking part in the project would be a step toward NATO membership.
"It is clearly directed at countries that are not interested in membership", the Finnish Prime Minister said.
