President Barack Obama welcomed Sauli Niinistö to the White House for the first time on Friday for a Nordic-US summit expected to tackle a broad range of issues.
Obama said that much of the proceedings would take place indoors due to the threat of inclement weather, before cracking wise about the Nordic summer being a much sunnier experience than this May in Washington and Finland’s liking for heavy metal and good governance, among other Nordic tidbits.
His pronunciation of Niinistö’s name was a little off—sounding more like Niinestö—but that did not seem to dim the Finnish leader’s enthusiasm as he took the stage to make his speech.
It was the first Finnish presidential visit to the White House since 2002, ending a fourteen-year wait for an invitation.
Niinistö was joined by the Prime Ministers of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland on the visit, which forms part of the US-Nordic Leaders’ summit. The summit focuses on security, arctic co-operation, the prevention of terrorism, the refugee crisis and trade links.
The event is a follow-up to a similar 2013 meeting in Stockholm.