On this very special day, we’d like to highlight the two towns Haparanda and Tornio, far up north. They are right next to each other, on either side of the Finnish–Swedish border that runs through the Torne River.

Fun trivia: Though so close, the towns are in different time zones, with Sweden one hour after Finland. And the towns share a golf club, with holes on both sides of the border. That means you can tee off in Sweden with the ball landing in Finland for a hole in one that takes an entire hour plus a couple of seconds – how cool is that?!

The Haparanda–Tornio region is a real meeting place for languages, cultures, nature, innovation and trade between the two countries. It’s been said that locals live with one foot in each country.

The three most spoken languages in the city region are Swedish, Finnish and the minority language Meänkieli.

Cross-border cooperation at its best! 💙💛🤍