Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa Abdoulie Janneh to visit Finland

Press release 265/2009
16 October 2009

Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, UNECA, will visit Finland on 19-20 October. During the visit, the topics of discussion will include the economic development of Africa, trade development support, climate change, democratic administration, and information society and innovation policy development support. During his visit, Executive Secretary Janneh will meet Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen, Under-Secretary of State for development policy Ritva Koukku-Ronde, and executives of the Department for Development Policy and the Department for Africa and the Middle East at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In addition, Executive Secretary Janneh will visit the Finnish Meteorological Institute and Nokia headquarters.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa’s mandate is to support economic and social development of its 53 member states by promoting regional integration and international cooperation. UNECA is one of UN’s five regional economic commissions, subordinated to the UN Secretariat, reporting directly to the UN Economic and Social Council.

Finland has been cooperating with UNECA within the field of information and communications policy since 2003. The cooperation has focused on the development of national information society strategies and statistical systems for information society in African countries. Finland’s support has comprised both programme support for UNECA’s information society department and technical assistance provided by Finnish experts.

Additional information: Head of Unit Helena Airaksinen, tel. +358 9 1605 6260, and Inspector Sanna Takala, tel. +358 40 571 5914, Unit for East and West Africa