Friends of Finland Congressional Caucus Founded
The founding meeting of the congressional Friends of Finland Caucus is organized on Thursday, May 9th at the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. The Speaker of the Parliament of Finland, Eero Heinäluoma, attends the founding meeting of this bipartisan caucus, together with the Honorable Ritva Koukku-Ronde, Ambassador of Finland to the United States.
Congressmen Dan Benishek, John Carney, Sean Duffy and Rick Nolan are the Co-chairs of the Friends of Finland Caucus. The Caucus is founded just in time for the Finnish 375th jubilee celebrations on May 11th. The first Finns arrived in America 375 years ago. Today, there are approximately 700,000 people of Finnish descent living in the U.S.
A congressional caucus is a group of members of the United States Congress that meets to pursue common legislative objectives. The caucus called the Friends of Finland Caucus will serve as an informal group of the Members of the U.S. Congress dedicated to issues related to Finland.
The objectives of the Friends of Finland Caucus are to strengthen the ties between U.S. and Finland and to serve as a forum for dialog among members of Congress and the government of Finland. It also has a task of promoting issues of mutual interest and supporting the interests of Finnish-Americans.