Marin discussed equality with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

Prime Minister Sanna Marin and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met on Friday 6 March at UN Headquarters in New York.

According to the Government Communications Department, at their bilateral meeting, they discussed the advancement of equality and the fight against climate change.

Prime Minister Marin also told Secretary-General Guterres that Finland is striving to strengthen the multilateral system, in which the UN is the cornerstone, and thanked him 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. She 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 Marin.

Finnish equality event

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 to New York was 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,” the Prime Minister said in her speech at the university.