Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images
The president of United States, Joe Biden, and the leaders of the Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark) held this Thursday in Finland a summit of great symbolic content and with which they want to show Russia the strength of NATO.
The meeting took place at the “Hall of Mirrors” of the Finnish Presidential Palacea high-ceilinged room, with a chandelier in the center and where the leaders were seated at a horseshoe-shaped table, headed by Biden and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, who acted as host.
Five years ago, in this same room, former US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) met with his counterpart, Vladimir Putin. That was the last time an American leader visited Helsinki.
Biden, with the flags of the Nordic countries in the background instead of Russia, highlighted the “values” of freedom and equality that unite the United States and the Nordic countries.
“The nations that are sitting at this table not only share a common history, but we also share the same challenges,” Biden stressed.
In that sense, the US president stressed the “historic” nature of the NATO summit which concluded on Wednesday in the Lithuanian city of Vilnius after two days of meetings and in which Finland participated for the first time as a full member.
Furthermore, a day before the summit, Turkey announced that it would lift its veto on Sweden’s NATO candidacy, so that country could soon follow in Finland’s footsteps.
Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometre border with Russia, became NATO’s 31st member in April this year.
Both Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, an event that changed public opinion in both countries and led them to abandon the neutrality they had maintained for three decades.
The United States has played an important role in the process of integrating Finland and Sweden into NATO, and the Swedish minister himself, Ulf Kristersson, made reference to the constant contact he has had with Biden in recent weeks, making a joke about it.
“The truth is that I see more than my own family. And I love itKristersson said with a laugh.
In fact, Kristersson met Biden on July 5 at the White House, and the two spent the last two days together in Vilnius during the NATO summit, only to now meet again in Finland.
The host of the summit, Niinisto, also exchanged some pleasantries with Bidenbut he gave the event a more solemn tone by stating that the sole objective of the summit between the United States and the Nordic leaders is to “secure the future” in terms of security, environment and technology.
On the table, the leaders have various issues. One of the main ones is Russia, NATO and the war in Ukrainebut they also plan to tackle artificial intelligence, climate change and collaboration critical minerals, used in solar panels and electric vehicle batteries.
This is the third summit in history between the United States and the leaders of the Nordic countries. The most recent took place in 2016, when then-President Barack Obama (2008-2017) received the rulers of those nations at the White House.
With information from Efe.
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