Finnish prime Minister warns against naivety in Russia

The Finnish prime minister stated to Sydney audiences that democracies need to reduce their dependence upon technology and energy coming from authoritarian states.

“There will eventually be a time for peace but peace must come on Ukrainians’ terms. We must step [up] our efforts to make Russia’s leadership realise that it has only to lose from this war, and lose it will."

Following a meeting between Ms Marin and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the two leaders issued a joint statement condemning the war, and in a section on the Indo-Pacific, expressed support for sovereignty, territorial integrity and international law, including freedom of navigation and overflight.

The two leaders also heralded the looming free trade deal between Australia and the European Union, and bilaterally pledged to deepen ties on clean energy, wireless communications such as 5G, computing, cybersecurity and the data economy.

The two leaders also agreed that “managing complex supply chains, energy sources and investing in trustworthy critical and emerging technologies was needed to promote economic, political, social and environmental stability as well as human rights".

Ms Marin expanded on the need to shore up supply chains in her speech and Q&A session at the Lowy Institute, saying the right lessons needed to be drawn from the war and other global challenges and crises.

“I don’t mean that we shouldn’t trade or we shouldn’t have connections to China but those critical dependencies we must get rid of.. because we cannot be dependent, for example, for microchips, or semiconductors or any kind of critical technologies when it comes to authoritarian countries because if those trading routes would be cut suddenly, then we would be in trouble."

Ms Marin said Western countries needed China to be a key player in the fight against climate change and defending the multilateral international order as Russia threatened it, but they had to make sure democratic values ultimately prevailed.

As well as reducing dependency on Russian gas, Ms Marin said further tightening sanctions would help to “weaken Russia’s ability to finance its war". She called for the confiscation of Russian oligarchs’ wealth so it could be used for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.

The business news publications are full of political and social developments from around the world as leaders struggle to respond to this unprecedented crisis. It is an uncertain time, but it is also a time of resilience, creativity, and progress as governments and citizens work together to find solutions.

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