Tuomioja to attend the joint Nordic, Baltic foreign minister meeting

Press release 172/2004 20 August, 2004 Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will attend the joint meeting of the Nordic and Baltic foreign ministers in Palanga, Lithuania, on 25-27 August. The meeting will focus on the guidelines for cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic states within the enlarged European Union, on the EU constitution, the Union's policies in the Eastern Europe, particularly the neighbourhood policy, and on international crises, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

A special item on the agenda is the Middle East question. The architects of the so called Geneva Initiative, former Israeli minister Yossi Beilin and senior PLO official Yasser Abd Rabbo, have been invited to the meeting to provide the ministers with first-hand information on the prospects of the Middle East peace process.

Further information: Jarno Syrjälä, Counsellor, Unit for the Middle East and North Africa (issues concerning the Middle East), tel.09 16055406, and Ari Tasanen, Counsellor, Unit for Central and Southeastern Europe (other issues), tel. 09 16055460.