Foreign Minister Tuomioja travels to Brussels for the EU Arctic seminar and to Tallinn for the Nordic and Baltic Foreign Ministers meeting

Press release 191/2014
10 September 2014

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja is travelling to Brussels on Wednesday, 10 September 2014 and to Tallinn on Thursday and Friday, 11–12 September 2014.

In Brussels, Tuomioja will speak at the seminar “The EU in the Arctic, the Arctic in the EU”, dealing with the European Union Arctic Information Centre, on Thursday, 11 September. The results of the European Union Arctic Information Centre preparatory project will be published at the seminar and submitted to the European Commission. Finland’s aim is to implement the decision on locating the Information Centre in Rovaniemi. The seminar is organized by the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. The minister will travel on the same day from Brussels to Estonia.

In Tallinn, Tuomioja will attend the annual Nordic and Baltic Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, known as the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8), hosted by Estonia on 11–12 September. The participants are the foreign ministers of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The agenda of this year’s meeting is dominated by the Ukrainian crisis and the sanctions against Russia imposed by the international community, especially the European Union. In addition, the recent NATO summit in Wales, the energy security of Europe and European cooperation, and the situation in the Middle East, especially Syria and Iraq, will also be discussed.

The NB8 is an informal cooperation forum of the Nordic and Baltic countries. Each country in turn serves as the coordinating “chairman”; Estonia this year and Denmark next year.

Additional information: Tarja Kantola, Special Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 351 799, Tero Shemeikka, Press Attaché to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 351 508, and Desk Officer Rolf Johansson, Unit for Northern Europe, tel. +358 295 350 810; as well as Arctic Official René Söderman, tel. +358 295 351 742.