Official visit to Norway for Foreign Minister Kanerva

Press release 21/2008
21 January, 2008

Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva will make an official visit to Norway on 22 January. During his visit the Foreign Minister will meet in Oslo with, among others, King Harald of Norway, Thorbjörn Jagland, Speaker of the Norwegian Parliament, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Störe and Minister of Defence Anne-Grete Ström-Erichsen.

The topics on the agenda of the talks between Foreign Minister Kanerva and Foreign Minister Störe include security and defence policy cooperation between Norway, Finland and Sweden, and regional cooperation in Northern Europe. The bilateral issues to be discussed by the ministers focus, in particular, on cooperation in border areas. Of current affairs in international politics, the question of the Middle East, the situation in Kosovo and OSCE issues, among others, will be discussed.

In addition to his meetings, Foreign Minister Kanerva will give a talk on Finnish foreign and security policy in the afternoon at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Kanerva will return from Oslo to Helsinki on Wednesday morning.

Additional information: Counsellor Hans Ottelin, Unit for Western Europe, tel. +358 9 1605 5569; Juha Kirstilä, Press Attaché to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, tel.+358 9 5012, and First Secretary Satu Suikkari-Kleven, Finland’s Embassy, Oslo, tel. + 47 22 12 49 00.