Stefan Tangermann, Director of the OECD Directorate for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries to visit Finland

Press release 171/2007
7 September, 2007

Dr Stefan Tangermann, Director of the Directorate for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) operating in Paris with a Secretariat of around 2,000 people, will visit Finland on 9–11 September at the invitation of Pekka Huhtaniemi, Under-Secretary of State for External Economic Affairs at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

During his visit, Dr Tangermann will meet with Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen; he will also have talks with the top management of the Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry and the Department for External Economic Relations of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and with leading Finnish economists.

The main purpose of the visit is to consider future directions and priorities for the work of the OECD Trade Committee in view of the international situation in global trade policy. The second topic of discussion is the significance of the OECD’s somewhat more established work in the field of agriculture. The third issue to be discussed is expansion of the OECD, an issue that affects the content of the organisation’s work in future. Estonia and Russia, Finland’s neighbour countries, have already been named candidates for OECD membership.

During his visit, Tangermann will also meet representatives of the Economic Policy Committee of the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK and the top management of the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK).

Additional information and requests for interviews: Counsellor Vesa Hölttä, Department for External Economic Relations, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, mobile tel. +358 40 527 4903.