Minister Kiviniemi to visit Latvia and Estonia
Press release 5/2006
11 January, 2006
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Mari Kiviniemi will visit Latvia and Estonia on 16-17 January.
Minister Kiviniemi’s Baltic tour will begin from Riga, where she, on Monday, 16 January, will have bilateral talks with Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis and Minister for Foreign Affairs Artis Pabriks. The ministers will handle topical bilateral and EU questions, and Minister Kiviniemi will give an account of Finland’s preparations for the EU Presidency next autumn. In addition, Kiviniemi’s programme in Riga will include discussions with Chairperson of the Latvian Parliament’s European Affairs Committee Oskars Kastens and Governor of the Bank of Latvia Ilmars Rimsevics. She will also meet leadership of the Latvian Ministry of Economics and the Economic Relations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as representatives of the Finnish business community.
Kiviniemi’s tour will continue on Tuesday, 17 January, from Riga by Via Baltica to Pärnu, where she will open a new factory of Efore Oyj. Power systems made by Efore are used, for instance, at telecommunications network base stations. The other production facilities of the company are located in Finland, China and the United States. The new factory in Pärnu will specialise in manufacture of high volume products requiring lots of handwork for the European markets. At the opening of the new factory, the Estonian Government will be represented by Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Edgar Savisaar. Kiviniemi will also discuss with Savisaar about bilateral affairs of current interest between Finland and Estonia.
Additional information: Counsellor Kristiina Häikiö, Unit for Central and South Eastern Europe, tel. +358 9 1605 5763, and Press Attaché Jari Haapiainen, tel. +358 9 1605 5356, +358 40 756 4428, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, as well as, on matters concerning the opening of the factory, Sari Jaulas, Efore Oyj, tel. +358 40 766 2828, [email protected]