South African History Online

Toast At A Luncheon Hosted By President Ahtisaari

Helsinki, 15 March 1999

Your Excellency, President Ahtisaari
Madame Speaker
Mr. Prime Minister
and members of the Government
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you, My President, for your kind and gracious words of welcome to me,
my wife and my delegation.

Finland is in many ways like a home away from home for us, not least so, Mr.
President, because of your esteemed self. We are greatly honoured to be allowed
to reciprocate the visit you paid to us some two years ago.

That visit is still very vividly and fondly in our memories. It served as
symbolic and substantive consolidation of the long friendship between our
countries, and between yourself and our people and region.

Yours is a household name in Southern Africa because of your long and
distinguished history of support for the cause of freedom, peace and democracy
in various countries of the region. We are delighted, on the eve of our
departure from public life, to once more share an occasion like this with an old
and trusted friend.

Mister President when, in about three month's time, I am allowed to retire to
the calm of the village of birth, it will be with a sense of fulfilment in that
the institutions of South Africa's young democracy are well established and
functioning.

For that - the achievement of democracy and the consolidation of its workings
- we owe a great debt of gratitude to the governments and the people of the
Nordic countries. Finland was a staunch supporter in our long struggle against
apartheid. Today we know you as a committed partner as we rebuild our country to
make a better life for all its people.

Relations between South Africa and Finland are strong and continue to grow.
We interact with one another in very aspect that maters -politically, in the
multilateral arena, economically, in culture, sport and education.

Geography has placed us at the opposite ends of the globe -and, if I my add,
it has given us climates so different that few South Africans could have
imagined the blanket of snow that has greeted us here, or the bracing
temperature!. But human perseverance has proved stronger than geography. Our
friendship has stood the test of time and distance.

Our disparate geographical locations has given us different foreign policy
priorities. For Finland the focus is naturally on the European Union and your
own immediate region, including Russia and the Baltic States. South Africa's
foreign relations are defined primarily by our membership of the Southern
African Development Community and the fact that we are an African country.

Nevertheless we are bound by a common commitment to democracy and human
rights. We value your advice and co-operation as we entrench those values in
every sphere of our national life. We trust that we can, by sharing our
experiences, contribute to your deliberations as well. Our co-operation reflects
the fact that globalisation is not confined to the economy and trade. There are
also global approaches to the many social and political problems facing our
world.

The close bonds of friendship and co-operation between our two countries -
one on the northern outskirts of Europe, the other on the southern tip of Africa
- also carry a powerful message about equitable relations between North and the
South, based on mutual respect and reciprocal benefits. In this spirit we can
and should work together for a world order which will serve equally the poorer
nations and the wealthy, the powerful and the small.. Developing countries know
that they have a solid and trustworthy friend in Finland.

Mr. President, South Africans will always remember Finland as our friend from
the days when we often stood alone in our struggle to rid our country of the
scourge of apartheid. This visit, one of the last such official journeys before
my retirement, will also remain fixed in my memory.

It is my great honour and privilege, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, to
ask you to rise, to raise your glasses and to join me in a toast to the
President of the Republic of Finland and the people of Finland.