The UAE and Finland share a similar success story, Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said in an interview in Abu Dhabi, during a visit marking 50 years of relations between the two nations.
A decade after the last Finnish presidential visit, Mr Stubb – an avid cyclist – arrived in the UAE at full speed, aiming to deepen trade ties and advance discussions on security and diplomacy.
The 57-year-old President, who prefers foreign policy to domestic politics, told The National that one of the central priorities is expanding collaboration in advanced technology, particularly in quantum computing.
“If you take the big picture, interestingly enough, though we are geographically quite far apart, I think both countries portray a success story of a similar scale,” he said on Thursday.
“Finland was a poor, developing country when we gained independence a little bit over 100 years ago, 1917. The United Arab Emirates was also quite a poor country when it gained independence in 1971. So, in the 50-plus years or in the 100-plus years, both of us pretty much went from rags to riches,” he explained.
The UAE is Finland's largest export and import partner in the Gulf region, with a total bilateral trade of over Dh3 billion. The two countries have a significant number of overlapping economic priority sectors, including advanced technology and industries, energy, sustainability and renewables.
'Match made in heaven'
For Mr Stubb, one priority is the economy and trade, “quite the classic”, as he called it. But it’s also about security and diplomacy, including conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, and Russia's war in Ukraine.
“I have a business delegation of about 20 companies here, ranging from comprehensive security or resilience, as you can call it, to technology,” he said. He added that the two countries have “interesting parallels, and the issue of technology is important to both”.
“The combination of artificial intelligence, robotisation and biotech will change the economy and the way in which we work, politics and the way in which we communicate, war and the way in which we conduct it, and science and the way in which we are as human beings,” said Mr Stubb.
He was speaking hours after the US authorised the export of Nvidia's powerful AI chips to an Emirati AI company, G42, and a Saudi tech start-up. The approval is seen as a significant moment for the UAE and Saudi Arabia, as part of their broader diversification efforts.
The UAE has been a leader in AI. And for Finland, boosting ties could mean greater co-operation on its side to import more in quantum computing, AI software, and other areas such as satellites, as the country has some of the world's most important hardware companies. “A match made in heaven,” said Mr Stubb.
“Technology is changing everything. And I like [the UAE’s] approach because you sort of look at geopolitics, technology and economy in one package, probably more so than we do. We kind of box ourselves into geopolitics and then technology is business. But I think the way in which you look at it more holistically is quite useful,” he added.
One of his main geopolitical concerns is the war in Ukraine. It was that conflict that pulled him back into politics after he had decided to step away following his time as prime minister and foreign minister. He had effectively quit public life until the war forced him to return.
“I don't regret one second of it,” he told The National. “This has probably been the most rewarding time in my professional career. I enjoy every minute of it, understanding that it is a difficult position. And for those who don't follow Finnish politics very closely, it's thankful to be president of Finland because the president is in charge of foreign policy, and he is the commander-in-chief.”
A push by the US President Donald Trump to end the war in Ukraine has stalled. Mr Stubb believes now is the time to increase the pressure on Russia with “more sanctions” and by continuing to provide Ukraine with the “necessary arms”.
'A little bit like my family'
Finland is a full member of Nato, having officially joined the alliance on April 4, 2023. This was a historic shift in its foreign and security policy, moving from decades of military non-alignment, a change spurred by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Since then, Finland has taken a more active role in international diplomacy, bolstered by the close relationship between Mr Trump and Mr Stubb. The Finnish President is widely viewed as having the ear of the US administration on matters related to Europe and beyond.
“I see that my job is more about sharing information between different players,” said Mr Stubb. “Anything I can do in the back office, I think is good, but I just try to do my best on a daily basis. Sometimes, you know, people listen; at other times, they don't. It's a little bit like my family.”
While he said Mr Trump is the only person who can solve the war in Ukraine, he also thanked him for the ceasefire in Gaza that has largely stopped the devastating Israeli war in the Palestinian enclave, despite limited Israeli military actions that are still affecting residents almost daily.
“The good news is that we have at least on paper and most of the time in practice a ceasefire. The bad news, of course, is that it is being broken and that we're not in phase two and there's still serious regional tensions among the key players”, he added.
The ceasefire plan came on the back of a series of recognitions of Palestinian statehood in September. Finland hasn’t taken this step yet, but President Stubb said he believes it is time to do so, adding that he had told the government that if he were given a proposal for the recognition of a Palestinian state now, he would recognise it.
“The government and I agree that we need a two-state solution, and the government will continue in the coalition to try to find a solution. Having said all of that right now, I still think the key is not so much whether Finland recognises or not, because eventually we will, but it is how we can support not only a process towards a two-state solution, but a maintenance of the ceasefire,” explained the President.
He expressed concern about the Gaza deal, despite saying that the recent vote at the UN Security Council helped sustain the truce. “What I have a problem with is bilateral or trilateral transactional deals, because at the end of the day, they don't stick. That is, by the way, to come to a final point, my big worry with the Gaza peace deal.”
