Toast by President Nathan in honour of Finnish President Tarja Halonen

Your Excellency President Tarja Halonen 
Dr Pentti Arajävi
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen

1      It is with much pleasure that my wife and I extend a warm welcome to President Tarja Halonen, Dr Pentti Arajävi and their distinguished delegation to Singapore.  Madam President, it was more than ten years ago in 1995 that a Finnish President visited Singapore.  Singapore is indeed honoured to have you here on a State Visit.

2      Your Excellency’s visit underscores the importance that the Republic of Finland attaches to its relationship with Singapore.  Our two countries share several similarities.  We do not have a big population.  Both place great emphasis on education and developing our human resources.  However, we have much to learn from Finland.  High educational standards have contributed to the Finnish technological revolution that has made Finland one of the most advanced countries in the application of modern telecommunication and internet networks.  Singapore is also working to develop a vibrant infocomm eco-system and enhancing the competitiveness of our infocomm industry.  We look forward to forging more links with your businesses in this area.

3      We also welcome the high-level business delegation that Your Excellency has brought with you on this trip to Singapore.  We certainly look forward to opportunities to build up our bilateral trade and investments and further grow our economies.  I wish all the members of your business delegation a fruitful time in networking with Singapore companies.  I hope they will find partners to seize the opportunities to invest in each other’s economies, and complement each other in joint ventures in our respective regions.  Since our business people on each side know their own region well, they can leverage on each other’s strength, and with their combined local knowledge, significantly expand their reach into new markets for their goods and services.

4      The Republic of Finland is situated in a European Union of 457 million people.  Singapore is in ASEAN, with its 558 million people.  Singapore is also located between two economic powerhouses, China and India.  Altogether, Southeast Asia, China and India represent a combined population of 3 billion people.  Many Singapore companies which have been investing and operating in Southeast Asia, China and India are quite familiar with these markets and environments.  We believe that there is much to be gained through further developing our bilateral ties, not just in the economic area, but also in the political, educational and cultural fields for the further consolidation of Singapore-Finnish relations as a whole.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

5      May I now invite you to join me in a toast to:

        − the continued good health and happiness of President Tarja Halonen and Dr Pentti Arajävi,
        − the continued peace and prosperity of the people of the Republic of Finland, and
        − closer relations between the Republic of Finland and Singapore.