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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,

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The President of Finland, Mr Sauli Niinisto,

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and I just finished our talks.

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And I want to begin by noting that our interstate relations have 

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a long-standing history: we marked 95 years since the establishment 

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of diplomatic relations between our two countries on December 31, 2015,

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and we maintain a friendly dialogue based on partnership.

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During today’s talks, we particularly focused on the situation 

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in the trade and economic sphere.

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Naturally, I must note that as a result of the well-known European 

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sanctions and our counter-measures,

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our bilateral trade has suffered.

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In 2014, it fell by 15%, and in 2015,

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it declined by 40%. Tourism dropped by 19%.

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We agreed that the Intergovernmental Commission will work actively 

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on re-establishing and enhancing multidimensional ties.

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At the same time, I want to note that economic players are very 

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determined, so to speak: they are working and building 

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major, ambitious plans.

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The total volume of accumulated Russian investments in Finland is $2.

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3 billion, while Finnish investments in Russia make up $2.

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9 billion, and if we include investments through third 

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nations, it’s over $12 billion.

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We are cooperating successfully in many areas –

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for example, in shipbuilding.

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Thanks to this, Helsinki’s shipbuilding capacity is fully loaded 

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through 2018; I repeat, they are stably loaded with our orders,

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I mean the construction of six ships,

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five of which are for Russian end users.

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In April, for example, we will transfer the world’s first LNG fuelled 

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icebreaker to our Finnish partners.

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The Finnish company Fortum is working actively in Russia.

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Russia’s Rosatom is working on implementing a project 

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to build a nuclear power plant.

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During today’s talks, we specifically discussed 

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cross-border and regional cooperation.

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Mr President gave particular attention to transborder migration,

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which has recently sharply increased.

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I would like to inform you that today,

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we came to a final agreement on introducing temporary limitations 

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at two checkpoints on the Russian-Finnish border,

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Salla and Lotta. These limitations will affect citizens from third 

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nations, but will not in any way affect Russian-Belarusian cooperation 

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within the framework of the Union State and Finland.

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We consider the agreement between Russia’s Federal Migration Service 

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and Finland’s Interior Ministry highly important.

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This agreement will be finalised today as the Memorandum 

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of Understanding and will address information exchanges 

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between Russian and Finnish partners.

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March 22 is Baltic Sea Day, and Mr President and I have agreed 

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to coordinate environmental initiatives in the Baltic Sea more closely.

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Russia has declared 2017 the Year of the Environment,

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and we count on Finland’s involvement in its events.

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We talked in detail about global crises,

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including the situation in Syria.

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We expect that all our western partners will actively support 

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the promotion of the peace process,

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through their contacts with opposition forces.

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We have set a schedule of bilateral contacts for the short-term.

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I am sure that the agreements reached today on deepening cooperation 

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will provide new momentum to our cooperation.

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I want to thank Mr President and his entire team,

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all our Finnish colleagues, for today’s substantive talks.

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Ladies and gentlemen,

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First of all, I want to thank President Putin.

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We had a very sincere and interesting conversation.

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We also talked about international relations,

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and the ideas and thoughts Mr Putin expressed are very important –

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thoughts and ideas on the situation in the Middle East and Syria.

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Our common desire is to continue the ceasefire in Syria 

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and the political process with participation by Russia 

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and the United States.

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Russia and the United States are playing an important role in this 

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process, so that this political process has had a good start.

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We also talked about the current instability in North 

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Africa and the Middle East.

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This is a major threat to all nations that have order.

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In the European Union, this phenomenon is also evident in the form 

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of serious migration flows that continue to this day.

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It is very important for international cooperation in this area 

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to function, so that we can jointly act to stabilise the situation 

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and fight terrorism, which is highly important.

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As for our bilateral agenda, I want to say a few words about 

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the border. Finland is very pleased that you took into account our 

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wishes. The agreement you mentioned,

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the agreement on information exchange, is also highly important,

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because information plays a major role in the modern world 

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in eliminating instability.

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You also mentioned our trade and economic relations,

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which are still going fairly well in the given framework.

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In this framework, we can continue advancing trade and economic 

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relations and develop them further.

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It is very good that the Interstate Commission’s work 

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on economic cooperation has been renewed.

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In our environmental cooperation,

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we will certainly take into account the Year 

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of the Environment in Russia in 2017.

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This will be a very useful initiative for rehabilitating 

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the Gulf of Finland. In this respect,

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we have long-standing traditions of working for the good of the Gulf 

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of Finland and the Baltic Sea.

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We hope that we will be able to continue our cooperation in the future 

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to resolve problems concerning the Krasny Bor range.

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I want to once again sincerely thank you, Mr President,

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and invite you to Finland at a time that is convenient for you.

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Thank you.

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A question for President Putin on the situation with asylum seekers.

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After you gave the Federal Security Service the command to increase 

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control over the borders, the number of migrants going from Russia 

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to Finland decreased significantly.

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Can you now guarantee that this phenomenon that we had over the course 

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of several years will not occur again? And if so, how will you do this?

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Some time ago, during one of our telephone conversations,

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the President of Finland pointed out this problem and asked that we 

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take the necessary measures to create the corresponding limitations 

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and, as you can see, we have done this.

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In January-February, I believe 1,

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700 individuals crossed the Russian-Finnish border, whereas in March,

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that number was in the single digits.

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We agreed – and today, we made the final confirmations –

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to implement limitations at two border checkpoints,

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Salla and Lotta-Raja Jooseppi. As you can see, it is all working.

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But there is another very important circumstance.

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While people may be coming from Turkey and Greece without any control 

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or documents, foreigners can only enter Russia’s territory with visas –

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except, of course, if they are from countries with which we 

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have visa-free travel.

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Nevertheless, this creates certain conditions for serious control.

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We have certain limitations here pertaining to the fact that if people 

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enter Russia’s territory lawfully, but another country, in this case,

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Finland, accepts them as refugees, their visas have expired,

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and in that case we cannot let them back in without visas.

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This is how we had certain problems with Norway.

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That is precisely why I fully agree with Mr President on this;

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it is very important to have a professional,

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timely information exchange.

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I can tell you one thing for sure: we understand our Finnish friends’ 

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concerns and will work together as partners.

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Yes, my colleague has already described quite substantively 

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the situation we want to create.

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I want to repeat again that we are very pleased that our interests 

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and our wishes were taken into account.

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Today the Brussels terrorist attacks are the main topic of conversation 

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worldwide, and you have expressed your condolences;

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but these were bilateral talks,

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so my question is about bilateral relations.

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A question to the President of Finland.

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It is common knowledge that with regard to the sanctions policy against 

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Russia, all European Union countries are obligated to abide 

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by the European Commission’s decisions.

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The decision applies equally to all EU nations.

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But it is clear, and we know, that different EU countries have 

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a radically different volume of ties with Russia.

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For example, Russia and Finland have an enormous volume of trade,

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even in spite of the drop in recent years,

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and it would be strange to compare it to trade between,

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for example, Russia and Portugal.

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Thus, how does Finland balance between abiding by common European 

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guidelines and its own national interests?

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And a question for the President of Russia.

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How do you assess this situation? In your view,

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are our partners able to maintain this balance, or not?

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First of all, I want to note that the sanctions are not imposed 

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by the European Commission, but rather,

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the EU’s European Summit through a unanimous decision.

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These decisions are subject to adherence by all member states.

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Certainly, nobody denies that these economic sanctions have decreased 

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the volume of trade between Finland and Russia.

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I imagine there is not a single person who would disagree that it would 

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be good to get rid of these sanctions.

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But for this to happen, the Minsk Agreements must be adhered to.

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Indeed, as you rightly noted, Finnish-Russian trade and economic 

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relations remain fairly active.

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At the very least, trade between Finland and Russia is far higher than 

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between Russia and Portugal, as was noted.

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And it should also be said that there are many reserves and many 

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opportunities beyond the scope of the sanctions.

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We must certainly use, and are using, these opportunities.

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Today, we also spoke about the presence of the chairperson 

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of the Russian part of the Interstate Commission for Economic 

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Cooperation, and noted during this conversation that we must strive 

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to find new forms for this trade and economic cooperation that do not 

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fall under these limitations.

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I must say that the overall economic situation,

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which was unfortunately not very favourable,

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has also affected the overall economic situation.

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This unfavourable economic situation is being observed both 

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in Russia and in Finland.

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I must say that one of the ways these processes are manifesting 

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themselves is through a drop in the volume of tourism.

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This is strongly felt in eastern Finland;

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many businesspeople talk about this,

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stating that tourism indicators have fallen.

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Before, Russians happily came there on vacation, made purchases, etc.

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As for balancing interests, which you asked about.

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In Finland, we are fairly direct people,

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in that we do not compare our interests.

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We abide by common decisions, abide by what was decided,

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and in this case, it is the sanctions.

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But we also abide by the principles of good neighbourly relations 

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and act as a good neighbour would.

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As for the decline in our trade,

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there are many reasons for this: they include the European sanctions,

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our counter-measures, the overall decline in economic activity 

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throughout the world and in Europe,

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the drop in the prices of Russia’s traditional export goods,

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and the currency exchange rate fluctuations.

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All of this has led Russia to lose its place as Finland’s number one 

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trade partner to Germany and Sweden.

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But Finland has also incurred certain losses –

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according to our calculations, just over 1 percent 

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of the GDP. And I assure you, nobody likes this.

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The economic players are quite active.

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I already mentioned that Fortum, a well-known Finnish company,

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plans to make new investments worth 4 billion Euro or US dollars 

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in the Russian power sector in Siberia and the Urals.

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Construction of a nuclear power plant in Finland will be carried out 

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with a Russian loan of $7 billion.

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Today, our Finnish partners provided the following data: there are 

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about 500–600 Finnish companies operating in the Russian market and,

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according to their data, this creates about 40,

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000 jobs in Russia. Russia has supplied nearly 100 percent of Finland’s 

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natural gas and continues to do so;

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it provided and continues to provide 80 percent of the oil 

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consumed in Finland.

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I assure you, both sides understand the importance and significance 

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of trade and economic ties and treat them with great care,

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as much as is possible given the current conditions. Thank you.