Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker to visit Finland

Press release 306/2005
12 October, 2005

Ignacio Walker, the Foreign Minister of Chile, will come to Finland for an official visit on 18–20 October, at the invitation of Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. On the agenda for the ministers’ talks are bilateral relations between Finland and Chile, EU prospects for the future, the Latin American situation and the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) Summit to be held in May 2006 in Vienna, Austria. Reform of the United Nations and the Helsinki Process will also be discussed.

Foreign Minister Walker, a lawyer and social scientist by education, has had a long career, in particular, as a researcher. In conjunction with his visit he will open a seminar addressing the EU-Chile Association Agreement. In addition, at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs he will give a talk on Chile, Latin American and the world.

Meetings with Paavo Lipponen, Speaker of the Parliament of Finland, and Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen are also on the agenda of Foreign Minister Walker’s official visit.

Additional information: Counsellor Hannele Tikanvaara, Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5658