The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, began a two-day official visit to Finland on Wednesday, hosted by President Alexander Stubb.
The pair planned discussions of topics including increasing political and economic cooperation between their countries, as well as the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, according to the office of the president.
Toni Alaranta, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), suggested that there were several reasons for the emir's visit to the Nordic country.
"The visit concerns national and financial interests. Along with the US, Qatar is the world's largest producer of liquified natural gas (LNG), and we will certainly need this in increasing quantities in future," Alaranta said, adding that his visit also reflects business opportunities for Finns in Qatar.
"Qatar is one of the countries that will suffer from climate change, and at some point Qatar's natural resources will run out. They are certainly interested in matters related to climate and health technology which Finland could possibly offer [help with]," Alaranta said.
At the same time, according to the researcher, Qatar wants to build an image of a modern Middle Eastern country.
However, in terms of political reforms, Alaranta said that Qatar seems to regularly take one step forward and two steps back, noting that the Middle Eastern country is an authoritarian state whose citizens have "very few opportunities to criticise political matters".
Qatar's record of numerous human rights violations became visible to the rest of the world as it hosted the World Cup in 2022. The country's poor treatment of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who prepared the football tournament came under heavy criticism for more than ten years before the games. Human rights organisations like Amnesty International have called on the country to remedy the situation.
According to Alaranta, the rights of migrant workers, sexual minorities and women were still Qatar's main problems. However, the researcher suggested that the emir's visit should be approached neutrally.
"When it comes to problems related to authoritarianism and human rights abuses, we can ask the same questions about almost every country in the Middle East. However, we have reasons to deal with these countries — that's why visits like this are organised from time to time," Alaranta said.
President Stubb also commented about the emir's visit on Yle Radio Suomi on Sunday.
"Values-based realism includes the fact that we act on the basis of our own values, but also with an understanding that the world's major problems, like wars in the Middle East, cannot only be solved by countries that agree with us," Stubb said.
He said that an influence of soft diplomacy is usually the best way to approach such matters. According to Stubb, it is important that the emir gets an opportunity to witness what the free Finnish society is like, at least for a few hours.
"Then, through questions, we can also discuss, for example, human rights issues," Stubb said.
Researcher Alaranta echoed similar sentiments. He said Qatar has taken a few cautions steps forward regarding the status of women in the country.
"There is an understanding [there] that women make up half of society and that it would be good to have some role for them, for example in business life and the economy," Alaranta said.
Article updated 5 September to add updated photos of the meeting.
