Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Mari Kiviniemi to the WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong

Press release 381/2005
9 December, 2005


Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Mari Kiviniemi will chair the Finnish delegation to participate in the sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong on 13-18 December. Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Juha Korkeaoja will act as vice chairman of the delegation.

The second vice chairman of the delegation will be Under-Secretary of State for External Economic Relations Pekka Lintu from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The delegation will consist of parliamentarians; officials from the Parliament, Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; as well as representatives from the following interest groups: the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK), the Service Centre for Development Cooperation (Kepa), and Pellervo Economic Research Institute PTT.

In Hong Kong, the objective is to reach a sufficient level of understanding about the questions of content in order to continue the ongoing round of so-called Doha Development Agenda negotiations. Trade-related development questions are expected to rise as a central topic of discussion in the WTO Conference. The EU ministers are attending the Hong Kong Conference in order to take a stand on both the current situation of the negotiations and their future.

Additional information: Director Matti Lassila, tel. +358 9 1605 5530, Special Adviser Satu Mäki, tel. +358 9 1605 6306, and Counsellor Juha Markkanen, tel. +358 9 1605 5836, gsm +358 40 520 3925. The last-mentioned will answer for the Finnish delegation’s information services and media arrangements in the Hong Kong Conference.