Summary:
In his speech at the UN general assembly on Wednesday, President Sauli Niinistö adopted a different stance from US President Donald Trump on three major issues: the North Korean nuclear threat, the Paris climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal. Mr Niinistö emphasised that, with North Korea, a solution can only be sought through negotiations in which the North Korean regime will have to participate without terms and noted that, as a EU member state, Finland supports sanctions against North Korea and urges others to do the same. Mr Niinistö also supported the Iran nuclear deal as well as the recent negotiations between the US and Russia which he hopes will restart arms control negotiations both in Europe and globally. The President emphasised the need for a rapid implementation of the Paris climate agreement.

Summary:
President Sauli Niinistö supports the idea of modernising the UN with people’s needs as the starting point. He is, however, aware that it takes more than words to modernise the organisation. Mr Niinistö spoke to reporters in New York and commented also on the international climate agreement and US President Donald Trump’s stance. He mentioned that in his own discussion with Mr Trump he avoided using the word climate change and instead discussed the Arctic and fighting black coal emission which fall under the category of fighting climate change.

Media:  Aamulehti
Date: 18.9.2017
Journalist: STT
Main source: President Sauli Niinistö

Summary:
Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini says the UN security council needs to begin dialogue with North Korea in one way or another. He hopes China and Russia will use their influence and points out that also the North Korean leader must be able to show to his people that he is negotiating because he is taken seriously as a negotiation partner, not because he is weak. Mr Soini participated in the ministerial conference of the Community of Democracies hosted by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington. In his speech he discussed radicalisation and stated that societies need to show resiliency and not give in to terror.

Summary:
Member states of the international Arms Trade Treaty are gathering to Geneva this week. Finland has presided the agreement for a year with ambassador Klaus Korhonen as chairperson. The Finnish Committee of 100 criticises Finland for selling arms to Saudi-Arabia and the Arab Emirates while acting as chair of the treaty. Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini assures that the rules for arms export are very tight but notes that it is no use if Finland unilaterally and categorically bans arms export e.g. to the Middle East. According to Mr Soini, the most important thing now is to strengthen the treaty and that progress has already been made.