Women’s rights in the spotlight during Clinton’s visit
During their meeting in Helsinki on 27 June, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja discussed topics of interest to both Finland and the United States. “Finland and the United States have many common interests, from security to human rights,” Clinton said.
Advancement of women’s rights a common goal
Foreign Minister Tuomioja and Secretary of State Clinton mentioned women’s rights as a particularly important target of cooperation. Secretary Clinton has raised women’s rights to the forefront in U.S. foreign policy. The Secretary remarked that at international meetings she has the habit of noting how many of a country’s representatives are women. “Finland wins, hands down,” was Secretary Clinton’s conclusion.
“Finland and the United States have much concrete cooperation in the field of women’s rights and more cooperation will take place in the future,” Foreign Minister Tuomioja stated.
The United States has invited Finland to participate in the Equal Futures Partnership Initiative. The countries taking part in the Initiative commit themselves to new national and international efforts to improve the position of women. At present the group consists of only about 15 countries, Finland being one of them.