Accession to NATO by Finland got into legal snag as the Alan Islands on Gulf of Bothnia has Russian lands incorporated with that provided that Finland maintains Neutral status. Once Finland renounces neutrality Russia has the right to enforce her claim over the Island. More on the business strategy move that trapped Finland:
The Åland Islands (Alan), are a group of small islets located on the Gulf of Bothnia between Sweden and Finland. Comprising around 6,700 islands out of which only, 60 are inhabited by Swedish speaking people numbering around 30,000. The capital of this archipelago is Mariehamn, located on the main island called Fasta Åland. Its port caters to trade & travel between three countries namely Estonia, Sweden and Finnish mainland. Total land area of the group is estimated as 610 square miles.
Alan is a self-governing province of Finland. Although sovereignty is rested with Finland, Alan which was awarded to Finland as a solution to dispute between Sweden and Finland by the League of Nations mandate in 1921, she enjoys wide ranging autonomy. This mandate was made on the basis that Alan remains as demilitarized entity under international law.
Recently, Russia's permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov has raised couple of issues regarding accession of Finland to NATO which is a militarized body. The first one obviously, is the status of Alan under international treaty which mandates it as neutral & demilitarized entity.
Second issue is the status of Saimaa Canal which was built back in the times of the Russian Empire, connecting Finland's internal waterways and lakes to the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. In point of fact Russia actually leased a strip of land along the Saimaa Canal to Finland in accordance with the provisions of the Russian-Finnish intergovernmental agreement which was executed taking into account of Finland's permanent neutrality.
As the most important of all canals in Finland, the Saimaa Canal is 43 kilometres long connecting Lake Saimaa to the Gulf of Finland near Vyborg in Russia. Built during 1845 – 1856 about half of the canal runs through a plot of land Russia graciously leased to Finland.
Finland is now trapped by a master move in Russian business strategy; either she foregoes NATO ambition or be done with Saimaa Canal!
Cheers!
Muthu
Ashraff Rajulu
Business Strategist
Mobile: + 94 777 265677
E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com
Blog: Business Strategist
No comments:
Post a Comment