Avslutningstal vid utrikesministeriets seminarium om Ålandsexemplet och konfliktlösning i Bryssel.

Ambassadors, 

Your excellencies, 

Ladies and gentlemen, 

On behalf of the Åland government, I want to thank you for the inspiring presentations on conflict resolution in Aceh, Northern Ireland and the Åland Islands. And a warm thank you to our panelists. 

We welcome the strenghtening role on mediation in Finnish foreign policy, and in particular the appointment of Mr. Haavisto to special representative on mediation, mentioned by Foreign minister Soini. 

When we in Mariehamn approach Helsinki, we strive to think not "this is what we need", but more "how can the Åland Islands contribute to Finland, how can we, for example, contribute to strengthening Finland's role as the "honest broker" in international relations?

As a result of these aspirations, we have had the privilege to host an Armeni-Azerbajdzjani delegation, primarily focusing on the conflict of Nagorno-Karabach. 

Of course meeting this delegation, we were confronted with the same sentence mentioned by Prof. McWilliams: "Our situation is unique and horrible, there is no one that has such a difficult situation as us". And after that, they bombarded us with more practical questions:

- Who controls the police?

- What happens if you disagree on a law? Are you saying you TRUST the Supreme Court of Finland?

What is always important to stress is - of course - that the Åland example is not a "one size fits all"-model. But some specific elements of our autonomy were obviously interesting. 

 

This delegation had no problems with communicating with each other - in russian. But sometimes translation from russian to russian may be needed. Or english to english, or serbocroatian to serbocroation. 

As Mr. Nordqvist pointed out, sometimes our role is merely the one of the facilitator: We serve the wine and show them some astonishing archipelago. But at some Point the host may be asked: What do YOU think of all this? And these are the moments when very small words can have  a profound impact. 

 

What we all want is to live in peace and find a solution. In that spirit, we hope to one day see an official or unofficial Northern Ireland delegation visiting the Åland Islands, with a tailor-made programme. 

 

So, last but not least: 

Welcome to the Åland Islands!

P.S: här kan du läsa mer om seminariet.