President Karis visits Finland and delivers Martti Ahtisaari Lecture

President Alar Karis is on a two-day visit to Finland, where today he will be delivering the Martti Ahtisaari Lecture at the University of Jyväskylä in memory of the former Finnish president and peace broker. The head of state's lecture will focus on security issues affecting Finland and Estonia.

The lecture will be livestreamed starting at 15:00. It will be followed by a discussion led by Dr Sinikukka Saari, the Research Director at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

On Wednesday the head of state will be in Helsinki, where he will be meeting with President Sauli Niinistö and Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen. Together they will be talking about Estonian-Finnish collaboration in NATO, cooperation between the two countries in the fields of education and culture and a range of projects in the energy sector. Russia's hybrid operations on the border and support for Ukraine will also be discussed.

During the morning, President Karis is scheduled to meet with Finnish investors interested in making research-intensive investments. In the afternoon he will be attending a reception at the Estonian embassy to mark the 106th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia to which members of the diplomatic corps, friends of Estonia and members of the Estonian community in Finland have been invited.

President Karis will be returning to Estonia late on Wednesday evening.

The annual Martti Ahtisaari Lecture is delivered by senior political figures from Finland and other countries. The tradition began in 1999 when the heads of state of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland met in Jyväskylä to mark the 10th anniversary of the end of the Cold War.