Foreign Minister Kanerva to attend the Informal Meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers

Press release 163/2007
4 September 2007

Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva will attend the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, the so-called Gymnich meeting, to be held in Viano do Castelo, Portugal on 7–8 September.

The meeting will begin with a working lunch where the foreign ministers will discuss the situation concerning the status of Kosovo. The topic of the working session on the first meeting day is the intergovernmental conference.

The working session of the second meeting day will address preparations for the Portuguese Presidency summits to be organised with countries outside the EU. Particular attention will be paid to the upcoming EU–Russia Summit. The lunch concluding the meeting will deal with the Middle East. EU candidate countries Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia (FYROM) will also be present then.

Informal meetings of EU foreign affairs ministers have been held regularly at six-month intervals since 1974.

Additional information: European correspondent Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, Head of Unit, Unit for European Common Foreign and Security Policy, tel. +358 9 1605 5026