Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen to attend the meeting of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development

Press release 155/2008
12 May, 2008

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will take part in the Ministerial meeting of the 16th Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development in New York on Wednesday, 14 May and will deliver the statement of Finland at the meeting. In connection with the meeting, Minister Väyrynen will meet with Gerda Verburg, Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands, who will chair the Commission on Sustainable Development in 2009.

The Commission’s themes in 2008–2009 are agriculture, rural development, land, desertification, drought and Africa. These themes have risen to the fore in international cooperation more clearly in recent months, especially because of the increased costs of foods and oil and the growing interest in biofuels.

The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development has the mandate to give politically binding recommendations to all governments and to give recommendations to other actors, such as UN agencies. The Commission works in two-year periods. The year 2008 is the first of the current two-year cycle. The task of the meeting, which will end on Friday, 16 May, is to examine developments concerning the above-mentioned issues, to identify obstacles to development and to exchange information about best practices.

Additional information: Päivi Nevala, Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, mobile tel. +358 40 753 4375, and Counsellor Jyrki Nissilä, mobile tel. +358 40 740 9154