Srgjan Kerim, President of the United Nations General Assembly, to visit Finland

Press release 92/2008
25 March, 2008

Srgjan Kerim, President of the United Nations General Assembly, will visit Finland on 27–28 March.

Kerim will have talks with President Tarja Halonen in Helsinki on Friday, 28 March. The President of the Republic and the President of the UN General Assembly will discuss work to reform the United Nations and the UN Millennium Development Goals, especially the work done by the UN to promote equality, and measures to combat climate change.

Kerim will also meet with Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen on Thursday, and with Speaker of Parliament Sauli Niinistö on Friday.

He will deliver a talk, “The UN’s Challenges in the Period of Globalisation” at a seminar to be held at Hanasaari Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre in Espoo on Friday. The seminar is organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Hanasaari Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre, the UN Association of Finland and the United Nations Association of Sweden.

The seminar will be opened by Director Gunvor Kronman and Jutta Urpilainen, Chairperson of the UN Association of Finland. Under-Secretary of State Marjatta Rasi will lead a panel, “Can the UN Secure and Build Peace?”, with panelists Jan Eliasson, the United Nations Secretary-General’s special envoy to Darfur, Counsellor of State Harri Holkeri and MP Pekka Haavisto, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Finnish Parliament. The seminar will be closed by Ambassador Kirsti Lintonen of the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations.

Additional information: First Secretary Juha Mustonen, Department for Global Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5187, [email protected]