Finland and UAE share 'similar success story': Alexander Stubb talks trade, diplomacy and Trump

The UAE and Finland share a similar success story, Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said in an interview in Abu Dhabi, during a visit marking 50 years of relations between the two nations.

A decade after the last Finnish presidential visit, Mr Stubb – an avid cyclist – arrived in the UAE at full speed, aiming to deepen trade ties and advance discussions on security and diplomacy.

The 57-year-old President, who prefers foreign policy to domestic politics, told The National that one of the central priorities is expanding collaboration in advanced technology, particularly in quantum computing.

“If you take the big picture, interestingly enough, though we are geographically quite far apart, I think both countries portray a success story of a similar scale,” he said on Thursday.

“Finland was a poor, developing country when we gained independence a little bit over 100 years ago, 1917. The United Arab Emirates was also quite a poor country when it gained independence in 1971. So, in the 50-plus years or in the 100-plus years, both of us pretty much went from rags to riches,” he explained.

The UAE is Finland's largest export and import partner in the Gulf region, with a total bilateral trade of over Dh3 billion. The two countries have a significant number of overlapping economic priority sectors, including advanced technology and industries, energy, sustainability and renewables.

'Match made in heaven'

For Mr Stubb, one priority is the economy and trade, “quite the classic”, as he called it. But it’s also about security and diplomacy, including conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, and Russia's war in Ukraine.

“I have a business delegation of about 20 companies here, ranging from comprehensive security or resilience, as you can call it, to technology,” he said. He added that the two countries have “interesting parallels, and the issue of technology is important to both”.

'Technology is changing everything,' the Finnish President told The National. Chris Whiteoak / The National

“The combination of artificial intelligence, robotisation and biotech will change the economy and the way in which we work, politics and the way in which we communicate, war and the way in which we conduct it, and science and the way in which we are as human beings,” said Mr Stubb.

He was speaking hours after the US authorised the export of Nvidia's powerful AI chips to an Emirati AI company, G42, and a Saudi tech start-up. The approval is seen as a significant moment for the UAE and Saudi Arabia, as part of their broader diversification efforts.

The UAE has been a leader in AI. And for Finland, boosting ties could mean greater co-operation on its side to import more in quantum computing, AI software, and other areas such as satellites, as the country has some of the world's most important hardware companies.