🇫🇮 Suomi mainittu

Finland’s Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen visited New Zealand on Oct. 21 to discuss security issues with officials there. His travel agenda also included Australia and Japan, signaling the Northern European country’s interest in the region despite the geographical distance. In a statement released by the Finnish government ahead of the trip, Häkkänen said: “We are reinforcing our relations with partners in the Indo-Pacific region. In addition, we see plenty of opportunities to deepen defense materiel cooperation.” Asked what NATO assets Finland is prepared to host, he replied: “When we joined NATO we were prepared, nationally, to defend ourselves. We have established NATO’s northern Europe’s land headquarters in the Arctic area, on Finnish soil. So we are leading the land defense.” Häkkänen was also asked about Finland’s defense priorities. He replied: “The first one is that Finland, by itself, has to be always, always, ready to defend our own country.” He said Finland has civil shelters for almost 5.5 million people—much of its total population—and added: “The Finnish way to do things is cost-effective, high-quality and win-win.”