Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja to visit the West Balkans
Press release 287/2005
26 September, 2005
Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will visit the West Balkans on 3-6 October. He will fly there directly from the EU Council of Ministers meeting, to be held in Brussels. Tuomioja will visit Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In addition to bilateral relations, the planned topics of discussion during the visit include the areas of focus during Finnish presidency of the EU, as well as the development of European Integration of the West Balkans.
Tuomioja will meet President of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro Svetozar Marovic and Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic as well as President of Serbia Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica in Beograd on 4 October. In Montenegro on 5 October, Tuomioja will discuss with President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic and Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic as well as Speaker of the Parliament Ranko Krivokapic.
In Kosovo Tuomioja will meet President Ibrahim Rugova and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Søren Jessen-Petersen on 5 October. Moreover, Tuomioja will have discussions with Prime Minister of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo’s government Bajram Kosum and meet with representatives of both the opposition and the Serbian and Romany minorities. Tuomioja will also get acquainted with the activities of the Finnish peacekeepers in Kosovo.
The visit will end at Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the Foreign Minister will, on 6 October, meet Prime Minister Adnan Terzic and Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic. In Sarajevo, Tuomioja will also meet EU High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina Paddy Ashdown and Commander of the EU peacekeeping force, EUFOR, General David Leakey. At the end of the visit, Tuomioja will travel to Tuzla, where he will meet Finnish peacekeepers from the Multinational Task Force North of EUFOR, under Finnish command.
Additional information: Director Kai Sauer, Unit of West Balkans, tel. +358 9 1605 5784, and Susanna Parkkonen, Press Attaché to the Minister, tel. +358 9 1605 5012