Nato summit and peacekeeping at the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy meeting

Government Information
Unit Press release 191/2004
11 June 2004

At a meeting on Friday 11 June, the President and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed the forthcoming Nato Summit in Istanbul and Finland's contribution to peacekeeping operations in the Sudan, and in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The Nato Summit is being organized on 28-29 June in Istanbul. In addition to the summit meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC), Heads of State and Government of Partner Countries in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) will also be meeting in Istanbul. Finland, too, will be taking part in this conference. In Istanbul, the EAPC will be dealing with current crisis control issues including the situation in Afghanistan and the future of Nato's Partnership for Peace.

On 27 May, the Sudan Government and the SPLM freedom movement signed a framework agreement aiming for peace. The idea is that the final peace treaty should be signed within the next few months. Finland is planning to send four staff officers to the forthcoming UN peacekeeping operation. In line with a decision made earlier, Finland's UN peacekeeping company (198 persons) will be brought home on 15 December, 2004. Seven military observers from Finland will remain in the region.

The meeting also discussed the situation in Iraq and the ILO report dealing with the social dimension of globalization.

Further information: Markus Lyra, Director-General, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5032

Finnish delegation to the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC)(Link to another website.)