YMCA has played a great role in shaping my life. It started with basketball practices in my hometown Oulu. My YMCA friends also directed me to my first posting abroad. From there, I have travelled onwards in my life and career of international development and peace-making, comfortable in the knowledge that friends once made are friends for a lifetime. Peace making is team work, where the goal is to ensure that everyone in the world is able to live in dignity. The important mission of YMCA supports this same goal. We all have a responsibility to support those in need.
When I today congratulate the YMCA Europe on its 40th anniversary and wish you a successful time together, I do it with a wish that this important work will be sustained for the benefit of future generations, and with a hope that all of you individually will continue to be active and carry on the message of this festival.
Martti Ahtisaari – President of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work.