Graça Machel visits Finland
Press release 130/2004
28 May 2004
Graça Machel will visit Finland on 1-3 June at the invitation of Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paula Lehtomäki. Machel is the President of the Foundation for Community Development (FDC) in Mozambique and a board member in the 'Rede da Criança' child rights organisation. Graça Machel is an internationally renowned spokeperson for children’s and women’s rights and she has served as a goodwill ambassador of UNICEF. Machel takes part in the implementation of the African-wide NEPAD development initiative as a representative of Mozambique, concentrating especially in the work of African Peer Review Mechanism committee. She has also been the Minister of Education of Mozambique.
Graça Machel is the widow of Samora Machel, the first president of Mozambique, and she is now married to Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa.
In the African Union Summit 2003 in Maputo FDC and Graça Machel organised a pre-summit assembly for women with the purpose of increasing the equality between men and women and strengthening the networking between women on the African continent. The embassy of Finland in Maputo supported the meeting with local cooperation funds. Half of the commissioners of the African Union are women, which is one of the most important results of the summit. The cooperation of the Finnish embassy with FDC continues in the years 2004-2007 with the aim of promoting networking between women. Special support is given to the improvement of the living conditions of rural women and the reduction of maternity mortality rate.
The main object of Graça Machel's visit to Finland is to strengthen the networking between Finnish and Mozambican women in different fields. Machel wants to inform Finns especially about the situation of women and children in Mozambique and discuss widely about the possibilities of cooperation between the two countries from trade to non-governmental organisations.
In addition to meeting with the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paula Lehtomäki Machel will have discussions with Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja and Finnish members of parliament. Machel will meet members of Women's Enterprise Association and visit SOS Children´s Village with the representatives from Service Centre for Development Cooperation. Marcel will also discuss with Vappu Taipale, Director General of National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, about the children vaccination programmes and with Wärtsilä Biopower about the issues related to greenhouse emissions trade.
Further information: Seija Toro, Counsellor, Unit for Southern Africa, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, tel. +358 9 160 56242