Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala to Kenya

Press release 68/2012
23 March 2012

Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala will visit Kenya from 24 to 28 March.

In Kenya, the minister will meet some of the highest leaders of the country, including Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and representatives of UN agencies as well as local and Finnish NGOs operating in Kenya. The topics of discussion will include the bilateral relations between Finland and Kenya with the focus on development cooperation, and the development assistance programmes financed by Finland in Kenya and East Africa.

Additional topics of discussion of current interest include the democracy and human rights situation of Kenya, and the political and humanitarian situation of Somalia and the Horn of Africa. The minister will visit a refugee camp, a pharmaceutical plant built with Finnfund support, and a water project supported by Finland.

An important milestone of democratic development in Kenya was the new constitution, adopted last year, that will create totally new opportunities for improvement of human rights and the status of women. Finland’s assistance to the country will support execution of the constitution.

Minister Hautala was scheduled to travel to Kenya in October last year, but the trip had to be cancelled due to the weakened security situation in the country.

Further information: Milma Kettunen, Press Attaché for the Minister, tel. +358 40 522 9869, and Helena Airaksinen, Head of Unit for East and West Africa, tel. +358 40 829 3412, [email protected]mailto:[email protected]