Finnish president favourably assesses European security

Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari said on Thursday that European security was in a healthy state and that cooperation between Finland and other countries had improved over the last few years.

In a New Year address broadcast by Finnish radio, Ahtisaari said that in the decade since the ending of the Cold War, new opportunities for cooperation between countries had opened up, and that this was to the benefit of Finland.

"Finland's security policy position is good: our opportunities for cooperation have increased everywhere.

We are closer to Sweden than ever during our independent history and we have achieved an ever increasing number of specific results because of this," he said.

Ahtisaari said that relations with Russia were good and that a tendency towards arms reduction in northern Europe had contributed to the improved security of the region.

"The military development in northern Europe has tended towards cooperation and arms reduction.

President Yeltsin's announcement of reductions in Russian armed forces in areas adjacent to Finland is good news.

Our frontier authorities' cooperation with Russia has developed well," he said.

"The fact that the Baltic states are building up a credible foundation for their national defence promotes stability in northern Europe," he added.

Ahtisaari also hailed the outcome of the 1997 NATO summit in Madrid, adding that Finland and Sweden had both contributed to the success of this forum.

"An important opening in developing military security based on cooperation was made in conjunction with the NATO summit in Madrid last summer when the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council was established," he said.

"Finland and Sweden have been able to intensify their mutual cooperation in the development of this forum, too," he added.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.