Finnish President Niinisto to meet Trump in White House

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto is to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington on August 29, Finnish officials announced.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Matti Vanhanen, described on Thursday the upcoming visit on Thursday as "a very good event", Xinhua news agency reported.

Talking to newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, Vanhanen said he believed the meeting would be connected with the Finnish chairmanship of the Arctic Council.

"Finland has openly promoted the idea of arranging a summit of the Council members...The visit will give an opportunity to further the goals of the Finnish chairmanship," Vanhanen said.

The meeting will be the first encounter between the two leaders. The last bilateral presidential meeting between the two countries was 15 years ago when then-Finnish president Tarja Halonen visited the White House.

Top level visits to Finland by US politicians have been rare recently. US leaders have frequently been to Estonia, Finland's southern neighbour.

Former US vice president Joe Biden visited Finland during the Obama administration. Current US Vice President Mike Pence was in Estonia earlier this month.

--IANS

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