Zambian Minister of Environment to visit Finland

Ministry of the Environment, Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Tiedote
17.5.2010

Zambian Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, H.E. Catherine Namugala will visit Finland on 17-20 May on the invitation of Minister of the Environment Paula Lehtomäki. Environment and the sustainable use of natural resources has been one of the main priorities in the long-term cooperation between Finland and Zambia. Minister Namugala will travel with a delegation consisting of representatives from the forest industry, industry, investment promotion agency and non-governmental organizations.

During the visit, Minister Lehtomäki and Minister Namugala will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Finnish Ministry of the Environment and the Zambian Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources. The most important element of the cooperation is cooperation in the implementation of multilateral environmental conventions.

Minister Namugala will also meet Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen who visited Zambia in March 2009. As part of the cooperation between the countries Finland coordinates the donor efforts in environment and natural resources development sector in Zambia and provides funding, for example, for an extensive environment mainstreaming programme. On the request of Minister Namugala the second part of the programme will focus on the Finnish forest economy and related industry.

The programme has been jointly planned by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Further information:

Advisor to Minister Paula Lehtomäki, Hanna Ekman, Ministry of the Environment, tel. +358 400 873743, [email protected]

Advisor to Minister Paavo Väyrynen, Päivi Nevala, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 160 56171 or +358 40 753 4375, [email protected]

Second Secretary, Helena Kuivila, Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
tel. +358 9 160 56343, [email protected]