NATO Assistant Secretary General Martin Howard to visit Finland

Press release 193/2008
3 June, 2008

NATO Assistant Secretary General Mr. Martin Howard will visit Finland on 4-5 June due to the multinational disaster response field exercise "UUSIMAA 2008", which will be conducted in the region of Finnish capital Helsinki.

The disaster response field exercise is executed in cooperation with the NATO Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC), which also celebrates its 10-year anniversary during "UUSIMAA 2008".

Altogether 25 NATO member and partner countries will take part in the exercise. The fictious scenario for the exercise will be significant flooding and storms along the coastline of the Gulf of Finland, which causes wide damage to the critical infrastructure of Southern Finland.

Assistant Secretary General Howard's programme also includes meetings with Finland's Minister of the Interior Ms. Anne Holmlund, Ministry of the Interior's Permanent Secretary Ms. Ritva Viljanen, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs' State Secretary Ms. Teija Tiilikainen, as well as other official meetings in different ministries.

Further information: Second Secretary Ms. Miia Rantanen, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Unit for Security Policy, +358 40 849 6065 and Ministerial Adviser Ms. Tiina Peltola-Lampi, Ministry of the Interior, the Department for Rescue Services, +358 50 456 0806.