Kultaranta Talks begin in Helsinki focusing resetting Europe

President Alexander Stubb will host the two-day Kultaranta Talks beginning at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki on Thursday.

The discussions will focus on resetting Europe in the evolving world order, said the President Office in a press release.

The event will begin with an international day examining Europe from different perspectives and analysing European foreign and security policy.

The second day of the event will focus on Finland’s foreign and security policy and Finland’s global role in various international contexts.

Stubb will open the event at 1.45 pm with opening remarks, after which he and Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte will hold the first debate of the day.

The debate will cover issues such as global developments and the direction of Europe after the European Parliament elections.

The second debate on Thursday, starting at 3.15 pm, will deal with the internal dynamics of Europe.

The debate will feature Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis and Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

In the third and final debate of the day, starting at 4.45 pm, the subject will be the global role of Europe. Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen will discuss this topic.

On Friday at 9.15 am, the event will continue with a debate between Stubb and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Finland facing a new era.

The second discussion of the day will start at 10.45 am dealing with Finland as part of the Global West. The topic will be addressed by Heidi Hautala, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Janne Kuusela, Director General of the Defence Policy Department of the Ministry of Defence, and Timo Miettinen, Academy Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki.

The last debate will begin at 12.15 pm, and the topic will be Finland as a global partner. The panellists will be Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, Ambassador of the Embassy of Finland to Beijing, Tytti Tuppurainen, Chair of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group and Janne Taalas, Chief Executive Officer at CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation.

The Kultaranta Talks will end with closing remarks by the President at 1.30 pm.

This year, around 100 participants from various sectors of society have been invited to the event. Participants include national and international policymakers, researchers, representatives of public administration, trade and industry, civil society organisations and the media.