Finland Times

The up-coming chair of the Arctic Council, Canada's Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq, will arrive in Finland today on a two-visit, said a foreign ministry press release on Wednesday.

Aglukkaq  is scheduled to take over the chairmanship in May this year for a  two-year term after expiry of the  chairmanship of Sweden.

The Canadian minister, who already started to visit all the member states of Artic council before taking the charge will arrive Helsinki from Copenhagen.

The coming chair of the council is scheduled to visit Oslo and Tromsø on Friday after the visit to Helsinki.

Aglukkaq will meet the Finland President, Sauli Niinistö and Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja during the visit here and will discuss various issues including the Canadian chairmanship of the Arctic Council, the objectives for the term, Finland's Arctic policy and the bilateral relations between Finland and Canada.

The minister is also scheduled to meet the Finnish businesses community during the visit, the press release added.

The Arctic Council, established in Ottawa in 1996 with the Ottawa Declaration, continues to be the leading multilateral forum through the Arctic foreign policy and promoting Arctic interests internationally. The Arctic Council is a consensus-based, high level intergovernmental forum that works to promote the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development in the Arctic region.

The Arctic Council comprises the eight Arctic States: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the United States.

Canada was the first Chair of the Arctic Council from 1996 to 1998. The Chair of the Council rotates among the member countries every two years. Sweden succeeded Denmark as the Chair of the Council in May 2011. Canada will Chair the Council in May ,2013.

A unique feature of the Arctic Council is the involvement of six international Indigenous peoples organizations as Permanent Participants.