Biden and Nordic leaders meet in Finland in a gesture of strength against Russia

The president of USA, Joe Bidenand the leaders of the Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark) celebrated this Thursday in Finland a summit of great symbolic content and with which they want to show Russia the strength of NATO.

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The meeting took place in thehall of mirrors” of the Finnish Presidential Palacea room with high ceilings, with a chandelier in the center and where the leaders were seated at a horseshoe-shaped table, headed by Biden and the Finnish president, Sauli Niinistowho acted as host.

Five years ago, in this very room, the former president of USA Donald Trump (2017-2021) met with his counterpart, Vladimir Putin. That was the last time an American leader wore helsinki.

Bidenwith the flags of the Nordic countries in the background instead of that of Russiahighlighted the “values” of freedom and equality that unite USA 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”stressed Biden.

In this sense, the US president emphasized the “historic” nature of the summit of the NATO 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.

Also, one day before the summit, Türkiye announced that he would lift his veto on the candidacy of Sweden to the NATOso that country could soon follow in the footsteps of Finland.

Finlandwhich shares a 1,300 kilometer border with Russiabecame the 31st member of the NATO in April of this year.

KNOW MORE: How does a country enter NATO?: requirements and how long the process takes

So much Finland as Sweden they applied to join the NATO after the russian invasion 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.

USA has played an important role in the integration process of Finland and Sweden in the NATOand the Swedish minister himself, ulf kristerssonmade reference to the constant contact that he has maintained in recent weeks with Bidenmaking a joke about it.

“The truth is that I see him more than my own family. And I love it”said kristersson with a laugh.

In fact, kristersson he met with Biden on July 5 at the White Houseand they both spent the last two days together in Vilnius during the summit of the NATOto now meet again in Finland.

The host of the summit, I’m not herealso exchanged a few pleasantries with Biden, but gave the event a more solemn tone by stating that the sole goal of the summit between USA and the nordic leaders is “secure the future” in terms of safety, environment and technology.

On the table, the leaders have various issues. One of the main ones is Russiathe 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 USA and the leaders of the Nordic countries. The most recent took place in 2016, when the then president Barack Obama (2008-2017) received the rulers of those nations at the White House.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.