SPEECH BY
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC MARTTI AHTISAARI AT THE
INTERNATIONALISATION AWARDS PRESENTATION CEREMONY AT
THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE IN HELSINKI ON 15.2.2000
My six-year term as President is
drawing to a close. Especially in recent times I have
noticed that in those years Finland has changed
probably even more than I originally expected to
happen. Internationalisation has been one of the
strongest forces driving this change, not only in the
economy, but also in the whole of society as well as
in our attitudes. No longer do we look upon ourselves
as a small remote country in the way we used to;
instead, we see ourselves as an active participant in
interaction between peoples and part of a pattern of
interdependence.
Internationalisation has likewise
left a very strong imprint on Finland’s official
foreign policy. Membership of the European Union and
the single currency the euro are among the most
visible milestones in this process. Finland is an
increasingly integral part of the European economic
region and at the same time part of the global
economy.
However, internationalisation is
both a very complex matter and a difficult one. It
has many faces. To business executives, for example,
it can mean new and interesting opportunities, but
seen from the perspective of ordinary people it can
be surrounded by a lot of uncertainty about the
future and bring a great deal of worry about their
jobs and livelihoods. If internationalisation appears
to be a threat, this naturally prompts rejection;
people feel they have to defend themselves against
it, halt its onward march. We have seen examples of
this kind hinking in recent times.
At the same time as these views can
be considered understandable, we ought to ask whether
rejection and self-imposed isolation are the right
answer to the development-related ailments afflicting
today’s world of information technology and an
open economy. One way to examine the question is in
the light of Finland’s experience. The economic
history of this country since the second world war
can be described as a policy of opening up. As a
small economy that originally depended on raw
materials Finland has had to change over to basing
her success on the highest-possible level of free
exchange. The first step was to promote free trade,
after which we proceeded towards deeper economic
integration on the regional, European and global
levels.
To a small, remote economy like
Finland, an open trade system offering an even
playing field for competition represents an advantage
and an opportunity. A prerequisite for our being able
to gain from this is, however, that we master two
things: on the one hand we must understand and be
able to manage the dangers of negative development
that globalisation brings in its train, and on the
other we must be able to avail ourselves of the
opportunities it offers.
I believe we have every prospect of
coping with the challenge of globalisation and
emerging as victors. That is because one of the main
trends that it incorporates is the growing importance
of ability and knowledge as central success factors
in society and enterprise. This fact puts the keys to
success in the hand of a well-educated and capable
people like us Finns: the only question is whether we
are able to open the right locks with those keys.
I was mulling thoughts like this
over in my mind a year ago when I opened a discourse
as to whether the more than three-decades-old name of
the President’s Export Awards and the grounds on
which their recipients are chosen should be changed.
I felt they should more accurately reflect the
challenges of an altered operating environment and
the prerequisites that must be satisfied if success
is to be ours. When I look at today’s winners
and the merits on which they are receiving their
respective awards, it is obvious that the goals the
revised selection criteria were intended to achieve
have been admirably fulfilled.
The first President’s
Internationalisation Awards go today to companies and
bodies which, through their own active efforts, have
made an exemplary contribution to developing a modern
and international Finland, a place that we find a
good place to live. The winners are more than just
exporters; each has its own distinctive way of
working internationally. Yet all of them have deep
roots in Finnish ability and society.
I wish all of the award-winners
continuing good fortune and success.
