Foreign Minister Tuomioja to attend the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Kaliningrad

Press Release 130/2013
4 June 2013

At the invitation of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia, Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will attend the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), which takes place on 5–6 June 2013 in Kaliningrad. Russia has held the Presidency of the CBSS for the past year.

Finland assumes Presidency of the Council at the beginning of July. The Council of the Baltic Sea States has an important role in high-level policy discussions on regional issues.

In addition to matters pertaining to the Baltic Sea region, the agenda of the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Kaliningrad includes topical foreign policy issues. Foreign Minister Tuomioja will present the objectives of the forthcoming Finnish Presidency at the meeting.

Russia hosts the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in the Kaliningrad Region, the development of which has been one priority of Russia’s Presidency of the Council.

Established in 1992, the Council of the Baltic Sea States holds the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in alternate years with the Prime Ministers’ Meeting. At the end of the Finnish Presidency, a CBSS Summit will be organised at the beginning of June 2014.

Additional information: Tarja Kantola, Special Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, mobile tel. +358 40 590 4119, and Ambassador Satu Mattila, Unit for Regional Cooperation/CBSS Presidency, tel. +358 9 160 351 7391