No nation can flourish by forgetting rest: Finnish president

Shutting down economic or other borders is not a solution to the imbalances caused by globalization, and no nation can prosper by forgetting the rest of the world, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said Thursday.

"Free trade has increased prosperity in the world and in Finland. For example, extreme poverty has been halved in just two decades," Niinisto said in his speech presented in the opening of the parliamentary session in Helsinki.

He said the world might be at an edge of a different kind of era. "Suspicions about the rise of protectionism are well-founded."

If trade restrictions were imposed, they would inevitably lead to counter measures, Niinisto predicted.

The president admitted that in addition to the good aspects it had brought, globalization had also increased inequality. Nevertheless, closing economic or other borders was not a solution to the imbalances, he said.

Niinisto voiced his concern over the concentration of economic power whereby a very small group of people could determine the living conditions of a very large number of people.

"An effective and just international order is ultimately in everyone's interests," he added. Endit