Paavo Väyrynen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, to attend the OECD Ministerial meeting

Press release 85/2007
14 May 2007

The OECD’s annual Ministerial Council Meeting will be held in Paris on 15–16 May. Finland’s delegation will be led by Paavo Väyrynen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development.

The general theme of the Ministerial meeting is “Promoting the OECD’s Work for Innovation, Growth and Equity”. The issues to be discussed include globalisation, growth and equity; innovation and growth; the challenges facing a multilateral trading system; and the OECD’s enlargement process.

Among the economic issues to be addressed are how globalisation will affect future needs for reform. Also on the agenda are the implementation of reforms promoting innovations, research and innovation investments, and possible reform of the intellectual property system.

The central topics of discussion concerning trade are the future challenges facing a multilateral trade system and the OECD’s own work on content for answering these challenges.

A summary of the Ministerial meeting’s results will be compiled by the chairman, and a decision concerning the OECD’s enlargement will be prepared.

As in the past, the OECD Forum, a parallel public event made up of 16 high-level panels and dealing with the themes of the Ministerial meeting, will also be organised. The panelists, from different areas of the world, include leaders and experts from the business and political sectors and civil society organisations.

Additional information: Counsellor Vesa Hölttä, mobile tel. +358 40 527 4903, Unit for OECD, Investment Protection and Specific External Economic Relations, Ministry for Foreign Affairs