Foreign Minister Tuomioja to discuss Barents cooperation, the Northern Dimension and the future of the EU in Finnish and Swedish Lapland
Press release 71/2006
23 March, 2006
Foreign Minister Tuomioja to discuss Barents cooperation, the Northern Dimension and the future of the EU in Finnish and Swedish Lapland
On Tuesday, 28 March Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, the current chairman of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, will open the Fifth Barents Industrial Partnership Meeting, to be held in Rovaniemi, Finland. The topics of the two-day meeting are infrastructure investments, transport issues and subcontracting in the Barents Region. At the meeting, special attention will be paid to the Murmansk area, which is expected to become Northwestern Russia’s engine for economic growth through exploitation of the oil and gas deposits in the Barents Sea.
In Rovaniemi Foreign Minister Tuomioja will meet with representatives of the Regional Councils of Lapland, Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu – the areas of Finland falling within the Barents Region – in order to discuss topical matters pertaining to Barents cooperation. A representative of the Saami Parliament will also attend this meeting. A special feature of Barents cooperation is the close cooperation with the Barents Regional Council and the intergovernmental Barents Euro-Arctic Council.
From Rovaniemi the Foreign Minister will continue to Tornio, Finland, where he will give a talk about the future of the EU and the fate of the Constitutional Treaty at the public event organised by Europe Information, the EU information service of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
The Foreign Minister’s programme also includes a seminar on the EU, the Northern Dimension and Barents cooperation, which will be held the same day in Haparanda, Sweden.
Additional information: Folke Sundman, Special Adviser to Foreign Minister Tuomioja, tel. +358 9 1605 5016, on Barents affairs, Ambassador Anneli Puura-Märkälä, tel. +358 9 1605 5606 and First Secretary Jukka Nikulainen, tel.+358 9 1605 5772, all from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs; and Director Barbro Widing from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, tel. +358 9 1606 3653. Information about the event organised by Europe Information: Roberto Tanzi-Albi, Director, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5813