Statement by Assistant to the President for Press Relations Fitzwater on the President's Meeting With Prime Minister Harri Holkeri of Finland

May 2, 1988

The President welcomed Prime Minister Harri Holkeri to the White House as part of the celebration of the Year of Friendship with Finland and discussed the President's upcoming trip to Helsinki and the Moscow summit. Prime Minister Holkeri presented the President with a medal commemorating the 350th anniversary of the first Finnish settlement in America in what is now Wilmington, Delaware.

During the 30-minute Oval Office meeting, the President said that progress had been made in U.S. relations with the U.S.S.R. and expressed appreciation for Finland's support for that policy. The President noted that the Helsinki Final Act symbolizes recent efforts to overcome the East-West division of Europe and to build security and cooperation. Prime Minister Holkeri is visiting the United States to open a Finnish exhibit in Philadelphia related to the Year of Friendship with Finland designated by Congress and the President.