Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen emphasised the urgency of solving the issue of wood export duties

Press release 90/2007
16 May 2007

Paavo Väyrynen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, met with EU Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson on Wednesday, 16 May in Paris, in connection with the OECD Ministerial meeting. In his discussions with Commissioner Mandelson, the minister emphasised the urgent need to find a solution to the situation caused by the decision to raise export duties levied on roundwood.

“The warning of lay-offs in the forest industry makes it more pressing than ever to find a lasting solution. I expressed to the Commissioner the hope that export duties on wood could be brought up, one way or another, on Friday in Samara, during the EU–Russia Summit,” Väyrynen said in Paris.

Additional information: Jorma Korhonen, Director General of the Department for External Economic Relations, tel. +358 9 1605 5042; Juha Pyykkö, Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, tel. +358 9 1605 6171