US President Joe Biden is meeting Nordic heads of state and government in Helsinki today.
On the agenda are security policy, green technology and support for Ukraine.
Biden arrived in Helsinki in the presidential plane Airforce One on Wednesday evening. He then came directly from the completed NATO summit in Vilnius.
In Helsinki, Biden will meet Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, but also Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M), Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir.
Kristersson also arrived in Helsinki from Vilnius last Wednesday evening.
The summit is being held at the Finnish presidential palace in Helsinki where Niinistö will receive Biden for a bilateral meeting at 1pm local time.
Just under an hour later, Biden and the Nordic leaders meet.
Press meeting with Niinistö
A press conference with Biden and Niinistö is planned for 5:30 p.m. Prime Minister Kristersson had not planned any press meeting of his own on Wednesday evening. However, Biden and the Nordic prime ministers will make statements when the summit with Biden begins.
Today’s meeting is not the first where an American president meets the leaders of all the Nordic countries at the same time. A similar summit was held in Stockholm in 2013. Three years later, the Nordic leaders visited Washington.
Biden has previously, during this trip to Europe, in addition to Vilnius and Helsinki, also visited London to meet King Charles and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The Nordics more important
That Biden is going to Helsinki is seen as a way to show that the Nordic countries are becoming increasingly important to the United States. Finland has recently become a NATO member and Sweden is on its way into the alliance. Thus, the Nordic region will have an important role for the defense of northern Europe. With Finland’s entry into NATO, NATO’s border with Russia has also been extended by roughly 130 miles.
Another common interest is support for Ukraine. The Nordic countries, like the USA, have given a large amount of military equipment to Ukraine.
Another common interest is the development of green technology. There, Nordic countries are considered to be at the forefront. Green technology is also something the United States is investing in.
No concrete results from the summit are expected.