“Finland has been a member of the EU for 22 years and for us, the EU means prosperity, peace, trade,” said Finnish Ambassador to Serbia Pertti Ikonen as he opened the doors of his Embassy to citizens. Finland takes part in the traditional Open Doors Days, organized in cooperation with the EU Delegation to Serbia and the EU Info Centre.

“We need stronger EU so that we could compete with other countries and regions in the world,” Ikonen told the press.

Speaking about Serbia’s future membership in the EU, Ikonen advised that Serbia should focus on “work, work and only work” which will eventually result in Serbia becoming a member.

“Standards of the membership are very high and to reach them it will take years and years of work. Naturally, Serbia will benefit from that work and grow stronger,” Ikonen said.

Open Doors Day at the Finnish Embassy was attended by the students of the Faculty of Economy and Finance (FEFA), the Belgrade Faculty of Economy and members of the student Economy Youth Forum, an NGO dealing with development of youth entrepreneurship.

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Ikonen talked to students about economy, the position of Finland in the EU and the way the Union helped its Member States to compete in the market.

He said that Finland is a country of innovation where education is the key to success. As early as during high school, the youth in Finland learn about the economy and entrepreneurship and the state supports start-up companies which contribute a lot to the culture of innovation.

Ikonen added that the happiness index ranked Finland second in Europe and fifth in the world.

Speaking about foreign policy, Ikonen said that when it comes to Brexit negotiations, Finland was advocating a solution that would please both the EU and Britain, adding that EU’s negotiating platform is yet to be defined.

He said that Finland was not considering joining the NATO and that there was no majority for such a decision in Finland, but he added that Finland was a member of the Partnership for Peace which had its own military and that Finland had deployed some 50,000 troops to UN peace keeping missions worldwide.

Deputy Ambassador Paivi Alatalo said that Finland benefitted hugely from the membership since it joined the EU in 1995, adding that European integration process is of particular importance to smaller countries as it gives them voice in the process of making important decisions. She also said that Finland supported Serbia in that process and that our country could count on Finland’s assistance in the future as well.

Economic advisor of the Embassy Igor Madzarevic said that Finland’s was a rather demanding market, adding that nevertheless there is room for Serbian goods, particularly food products.

Madzarevic said there was room for Finnish investment in Serbia. All participants in the discussion agreed that the Finnish had zero tolerance for corruption and that companies from Finland tend to leave any market where corruption is detected.