«Currently 12 direct flights between Kyiv and Helsinki are operated by UIA weekly, — told Panorama Andrii Olefirov, Ambassador of Ukraine in Finland, — We have a lot of exciting cooperation ahead of us and I thank Ukraine International Airlines for the opportunity to communicate to all the multimillion UIA passenger audience and of course those taking the Kyiv — Helsinki — Kyiv flight!»

UKRAINE — FINLAND. BEGINNING

The history of diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Finland dates back to 1918. Finland was among the first countries to recognize the Ukrainian state in 1918 and opened its diplomatic mission in Kyiv. Ukrainian diplomatic mission was among the first six foreign missions established in Helsinki in 1918. Constantin Lossky became the first Ambassador of Ukraine to Finland and Herman Gummerus — the first Ambassador of Finland to Ukraine in 1918. Upon completing his mission in Ukraine in 1919, ambassador Gummerus wrote a book of memoirs «Ukraine at the turn of the times». «We Finns will enjoy success of independence aspirations of the Ukrainian people, which is so much in the interests of our country. When, one day, the time comes for Ukraine’s freedom, then it will be clear that the desire to establish friendly relations between Finland and the country of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Mazepa and Shevchenko was not in vain», — prophetically wrote Ambassador Gummerus at that time.

RELOADING

Finland recognized the independence of Ukraine for the second time on December 30, 1991, and, in February 26, 1992, diplomatic relations between the two countries were reinstated. Since April 1992, the Embassy of Finland has been working in Ukraine, and in December 1992 the Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Finland was opened. Bilateral relations between our countries are growing very actively these days. Over the past two years the two Presidents have had 8 meetings and numerous telephone conversations; in 2015 the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament visited Finland, foreign ministers have also exchanged visits. On January 23-24, 2017, for the first time in the past 11 years, President of Ukraine payed an official visit to Finland.

This, as well as old friendly relations between our states, give me a reason to believe that Finland will continue to support us both politically and in investment and humanitarian issues. The latest statistics also give ground for optimism: in 9 months of 2016 the bilateral trade turnover between Ukraine and Finland amounted to $236.8 million — a 5.3% growth as compared to the same period of 2015.

FRIENDLY SUPPORT

Finland at once condemned illegal occupation of the Crimea and strictly follows EU sanctions policy against Russia, despite the fact that these sanctions have negative impact on its trade. Finnish politicians are aware that Russia’s actions against Ukraine have significantly worsened the security situation in the Baltic region. Hence, Finland is also interested in the de-escalation of the situation in the Eastern Ukraine and full implementation of the Minsk agreements.

Finland supports us both at the political and humanitarian levels. For example, Finland is the third-largest contributor to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission. In 2016, in the village of Antonivka in Kherson Region, Finland built a new modern school for over 200 Ukrainian kids.

BRIGHT PROSPECTS

45 companies with Finnish capital operate in Ukraine today (the biggest are Ensto, Kone, Abloy, Honka, Orion Pharma, Konecranes, and Telko). Promising areas for our cooperation are education, fighting corruption, energy efficiency and energy saving, where Finland traditionally ranks among the best in the world, whereas Finnish businessmen might be interested in Ukraine as a big market, a country with fertile land and great human potential. But the most important in my opinion is strengthening contacts between people, bringing us closer to each other. For example, last year, the famous Ukrainian band «Okean Elzy» played in Helsinki and the popular Finnish rockers «Poets of the fall» performed in Kyiv.

Also, to mark the centennial of independence of Finland, the Embassy of Ukraine in Finland together with a Kyiv gallery «KalytaArtKlub» and Association of Ukrainians in Finland supported by Ukraine International Airlines decided to congratulate this friendly country with the exhibition «TOPOS by Yurii Khymych», dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Ukrainian artist. A tireless traveller, Yurii Khymych preserved in his exceptional gouaches numerous architectural monuments of Ukraine and many European countries and left a huge creative legacy — complete series of works created while traveling. Most of the paintings were created in the open air. In 1969 Khymych spent a month in Finland upon the invitation of a Finnish businessman, having painted 40 gouaches — landscapes of the cities of Helsinki, Porvoo, and Turku.

«Панорама»,