Speech by minister Virolainen at UN General Assembly side event Road to Marrakech

Speech by Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen at UN General Assembly side event Road to Marrakech 26 September 2018.

Thank you, Ms Chairperson,

Your Excellency Mr Secretary General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Migration is one of the key challenges of our century, and one that can only be addressed successfully on a truly global level. It is a phenomena we all face in one form or another and, thus, cooperation is the only way to make migration safe, orderly and regular. At the same time, we should remember the positive sides of it.

Finland fully supports the negotiation result reached in July on the Global Compact. The thorough preparations in form of thematic discussions last year helped us to understand each other, and in the negotiations we reached a tangible result with common objectives, providing additional value to the political commitments made in New York Declaration for migrants and refugees.

We consider the result as comprehensive and balanced. It is a human rights instrument but also one that establishes commitments in the fields of sustainable development. For us it was also important that the Compact is gender-responsive, mainstreaming gender perspective and promoting the empowerment of all women and girls. Also the emphasis on vulnerable groups, e.g. persons with disabilities, is important.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to inform you all that the President of the Republic of Finland, Mr Sauli Niinistö, has announced his participation to the high-level intergovernmental conference to adopt the compact in Marrakesh, Morocco 10-11 December. It will be a milestone, but also a starting point to the implementation of our common agreement. That will be the key to success in the future. In Marrakesh, we can discuss ideas on implementation on national, regional and global level, and perhaps share already some practices on policies and cooperation.

In the end, I would like to underline the importance of innovative approaches, and involving all actors of the societies, e.g. civil society and private sector, in order to reach the objectives which should be seen in the most ambitious way.

Thank you.

Speeches held by Ministers and the top leadership of the Ministry.