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Prime Minister Sipilä attends Nordic meetings and Northern Future Forum in Oslo

Government Communications Department
Publication date 30.10.2018 21.11 | Published in English on 31.10.2018 at 12.45
Press release 507/2017

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä participated on Tuesday in the Nordic Council Session and the Northern Future Forum meeting of the Prime Ministers of the Nordic countries, Baltic countries and the UK. Sipilä also had bilateral meetings with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Teresa May, Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas. The bilateral meetings focused on bilateral relations and Finland’s upcoming EU Presidency.

The main themes of the 70th Nordic Council Session are the pressures facing democracy, freedom of movement in the Nordic region and judicial cooperation between the Nordic countries. At the Nordic Summit, the topic of the thematic debate between the Nordic prime ministers was “The resilience of the Nordic countries in the face of attempts by other nations to influence our society and our democratic processes”.

“Our democratic election processes are currently one of the main channels used in hybrid influencing against us. The combination of displacement, uncontrolled migration and xenophobia is another,” the Prime Minister said in his speech.

“The cohesion of our societies is the best guarantor of our security. Cracks in our societies are also being exploited by external forces. The goal of external influence may be to polarise discussions and heighten confrontation. We cannot allow this to happen,” Sipilä emphasised.

Health technology a theme at the Northern Future Forum in Oslo

At the Northern Future Forum, the Nordic, Baltic and UK prime ministers explored the possibilities of health technology for the future of healthcare.

In his speech, Prime Minister Sipilä stated that, while health technology gives us new tools to work with, we also need the right kinds of regulations and international cooperation to put them to use. 

The prime ministers met in Oslo with healthcare industry experts. The experts that participated in the seminar from Finland specialise in creating digital platform solutions for healthcare services and utilising artificial intelligence and genome data to develop more effective and patient-oriented services.

As the population ages, health services in all participating countries are facing increased pressures related to demand and costs. In order to deal with this challenge, we need to utilise new technology in an innovative way to develop patient-oriented healthcare services that improve productivity and mitigate cost increases.

In the evening, the prime ministers will attend the Nordic Council prize gala at the Norwegian Opera and Ballet in Oslo, where the Nordic Council will award its prizes for literature, children’s and young people’s literature, music, film and environmental work.

Photos in the Government's Flickr photostream

Inquiries: Jani Raappana, Special Adviser (international affairs), tel. +358 295 160 306, Pekka Sinko ( NFF meeting), General Secretary of the Economic Council, tel. +358 295 160 189, and Päivi Paasikoski, Assistant Head of Communications, Prime Minister’s Office, tel. +358 40 547 6279