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Prime Minister Marin meets with UN Secretary-General Guterres

Government Communications Department
Publication date 7.3.2020 0.52 | Published in English on 10.3.2020 at 17.24
Press release 119/2020
Pääministeri Marin ja YK:n pääsihteeri Anton Guterres

Prime Minister Sanna Marin and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met on Friday 6 March at UN Headquarters in New York. At their bilateral meeting, they discussed the advancement of equality and the fight against climate change. Prime Minister Marin told Secretary-General Guterres that Finland is striving to strengthen the multilateral system, in which the UN is the cornerstone, and thanked Secretary-General Guterres for his efforts to reform the organisation.

“I emphasised that Finland takes the promotion of sustainable development seriously. I myself intend to participate in the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development here in New York in July and present Finland’s progress in this area,” said Prime Minister Marin.

Prime Minister Marin was the keynote speaker at the Women’s Day event organised by UN Women at the UN General Assembly Hall. The Prime Minister recalled that, although the Assembly Hall is the only place where every country in the world can have its voice heard, that voice is still far too often the voice of men.

“In my speech, I talked about what has been done in Finland over the years to make us one of the world’s most equal countries. That said, we, too, still have a lot to do to promote equality,” said Prime Minister Marin.

In addition to the Women's Day event, the Finnish Mission to the UN organised an equality event where the Prime Minister delivered the opening words.

An important part of the visit was Prime Minister Marin’s open lecture at Columbia University entitled “The Climate Neutral Welfare Society: Is it the Model of the Future?”  In connection with the event, she also met Finnish students from the university.

“Without a holistic view of sustainable development, we cannot fight climate change. Without the social and the economical, the environmental transition is not possible,” said Prime Minister Marin in her speech at the university.

Inquiries: Lauri Voionmaa, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister (International Affairs), tel. +358 29 5160306 and Päivi Anttikoski, Director of Government Communications, tel. +358 40 5364821.

Sanna Marin
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