Obama greets Nordic leaders, saying they ‘punch above their weight’

President Obama has an often-used boxing metaphor for the small European countries that make an oversized contribution to international efforts on terrorism, disease, climate change and migration: They “consistently punch above their weight,” he says.

If that’s true, Friday’s gathering of Nordic leaders was the greatest collection of welterweights the White House has seen in quite some time.

Obama welcomed the leaders of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden for a state visit Friday, returning the hospitality fro his visit to Sweden in 2013.

“Our Nordic partners are not large countries, but there are almost no issues that we deal with — whether in terms of security or economics or humanitarian assistance — where the Nordic countries are not some of our most reliable and effective and important partners,” Obama said in an arrival ceremony moved into the White House foyer because of rain. ” And that’s why I wanted to invite them here today, because sometimes we have a tendency to take our best friends for granted, and it’s important that we not do so.”

As is customary, Obama used the occasion to drop a few friendly jokes.

Obama also praised the commitment by the Nordic countries to climate change, their work on Arctic issues, their contributions to foreign aid and accepting Syrian refugees. And they discussed trade, the future of the European Union, and the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw in July.

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