Ministry for Foreign Affairs to organise a seminar on the EU’s role in the UN

Press release 236/2007
7 November 2007

Together with the Global Group of the Parliament of Finland, the European Movement in Finland and the Finnish UN Association, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is organising a seminar on the European Union’s influence at the United Nations. The seminar, which will assemble together more than 100 participants, will be held at the Auditorium of the Finnish Parliament on Friday, 9 November at 9:00–11:00.

The purpose of the event is to discuss the means available to the EU for strengthening the UN and for more effective promotion of EU goals at the UN. The main foreign speaker at the seminar will be Researcher Richard Gowan from New York University, who has previously served as director of the Foreign Policy Centre in London. Gowan is currently preparing a report on this topic for the European Council on Foreign Affairs, an expert group led by Martti Ahtisaari.

The seminar will be opened by Marjatta Rasi, Under-Secretary of State for International Development Cooperation and Development Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and Jutta Urpilainen, Chair of the Global Group of the Parliament of Finland. The other speakers are: Pekka Haavisto, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Finnish Parliament; Heidi Schroderus-Fox, Deputy Permanent Representative at Finland’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations; Sirpa Pietikäinen, Chair of the Finnish UN Association; and Miapetra Kumpula, President of the European Movement in Finland.

Additional information: Attaché Johanna Ikonen, Unit for General Global Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5182, mobile tel. +358 40 537 6336