President Urho Kekkonen of Finland, before flying to Washington to be welcomed by President Nixon at the start of a four-day State Visit to the USA, toured Williamsburg, a restored Colonial village in the State of Virginia on Wednesday (July 22).

The Finnish President. Who had gone to the United States directly following a four-day visit to the USSR where he had talks with Soviet leaders, spent the night in Williamsburg before flying to Washington.

In Washington he was greeted at the White House by President Nixon who told him that the United States respected his country for its strength and its policy of neutrality in world affairs.

President Nixon also thanked President Kekkonen for the part Finland had played by being host to the preliminary Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, which the United States and the Soviet Union conducted in Helsinki last November.

The American leader said the Helsinki meetings were historic, and added that he trusted that the negotiations, now being held in Vienna would lead to an American-Soviet agreement contributing to the cause of peace for generations to come.