From September 10 to 13, the President of the House of Representatives, Rachid Talbi Alami, led a delegation of Moroccan MPs on an official visit to Finland. Just four days later, on Wednesday, the President of Algeria's upper house, Azouz Nasri, met in Algiers with the Finnish ambassador, Pekka Hyyvönen. According to a statement from Algeria's legislative body, the Western Sahara issue was at the center of their discussions. «The President of the Council of the Nation reaffirmed the need to grant the Sahrawi people their right to self-determination, in accordance with United Nations Resolution 1514», it said. It should be noted that this resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 14, 1960, and not by the Security Council. The Algerian statement did not cite any remarks from the Finnish diplomat on the matter. For its part, Finland considers Morocco's autonomy plan «a good basis for a solution» to the dispute. This position was reiterated in a joint statement published on August 6, 2024, in Helsinki, following talks between Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and his Finnish counterpart, Elina Valtonen. In response, Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf traveled to Finland last April on the orders of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune but failed to convince Helsinki to shift its position on the Sahara issue. During his visit to Helsinki, Rachid Talbi Alami held talks with several senior Finnish officials, including his counterpart Kristian Halla-aho, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah, Parliament Vice-President Tarja Filatov, and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Johannes Koskinen.
