Northern Dimension Senior Officials to meet in Imatra
Press release 364/2006
18 September, 2006
A Northern Dimension Senior Officials Meeting will take place in Imatra on 22 September. The topics on the agenda are: revision of the Northern Dimension policy so that it becomes a joint policy of the European Union, the Russian Federation, Norway and Iceland; and the effects of the policy reform on Northern Dimension cooperation. Negotiations on a framework document for the new Northern Dimension policy between the EU, the Russian Federation, Norway and Iceland are nearing conclusion. The intention is to gain approval for the framework document at the political level during the Finnish Presidency, in November 2006.
The Senior Officials Meeting will be chaired by Under-Secretary of State Pekka Huhtaniemi of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The EU Member States and the Commission, the Russian Federation, Norway and Iceland as well as the observer countries, i.e. Canada and the United States, the Northern regional councils (the Council of Baltic Sea States, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Arctic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers), international financial institutes active in the region and certain EU institutions will all be represented at the meeting.
The Northern Dimension is an element of the EU’s external relations and cross-border policy. Its aim is to increase cooperation in Northern Europe between the EU, The Russian Federation and other countries in the region. The Northern Dimension Ministerial Meeting decided in November 2005 to open a new phase of this policy, developing it into a joint policy shared by the EU and the countries of the region. It was also agreed to bind the Northern Dimension as part of regional cooperation between the European Union and the The Russian Federation. In line with the Ministerial Meeting’s decisions, the EU, The Russian Federation, Norway and Iceland launched negotiations, in spring 2006, on a new joint framework document which is intended to enter into force at the start of 2007 when the current Northern Dimension Action Plan expires. The objective of the new joint policy is to strengthen all parties’ commitment to the Northern Dimension and to promote the cooperation in practice carried out within its sphere.
Additional information: Maimo Henriksson, Director of the Unit for the Northern Dimension of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 6186, mobile tel. +358 40 527 3821; and Counsellor Marja-Leena Vuorenpää, tel. +358 9 1605 5627, mobile tel. + 358 40 861 7135