Finnish FM: Lukashenka admires Nordic welfare society model
Pekka Haavisto / Reuters
Aliaksandr Lukashenka admires the Nordic model of the welfare society and would like to develop his country in that direction, Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told Euroradio in Helsinki.
"We had an excellent visit to Belarus with my Swedish Foreign Minister colleague Ann Linde. So, we met your President Lukashenka and your Foreign Minister Makei and we had excellent talks there.
And in these talks, by the way, President Lukashenka told us that he admires a Nordic model of the welfare society and he stressed that he must develop his own country in that direction.
Of course, there is our full support for that," Haavisto said.
The Nordic model of welfare is distinguished from other types of welfare states by its emphasis on maximising labour force participation, promoting gender equality, egalitarian and extensive benefit levels, the large magnitude of income redistribution and liberal use of expansionary fiscal policy.
