Auckland: The prime minister’s of New Zealand and Finland hit back at a journalist’s suggestion that they arranged a meeting because they are “similar in age”. New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern and Finland’s Sanna Marin, at a press conference in Auckland, said that they met because they are prime ministers and not because of their genders.
“A lot of people will be wondering are you two meeting just because you are similar in age and got a lot of stuff common there,” asked the journalist.
PM Ardern questioned whether the male politicians face the same question, interjecting the journalist.
“My first question is, I wonder whether or not anyone ever asked Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were of similar age?” asked PM Ardern.
She said that politics have a higher proportion of men. “Because two women meet is not simply because of their gender,” she added.
PM Ardern then talked about the relations between the two countries. “Our meeting today as a chance alongside prime minister […] Little would be known about the depth of that relationship or the potential of it but its our job to further it, regardless of our gender,” she concluded.
“We are now meeting because we are prime ministers, of course,” said the Finnish premier.
PM Marin said that the leaders have a lot of things in common.
This is the first time a Finnish prime minister has visited New Zealand and met her counterpart in person.
