Finland Times

 

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja in Helsinki on 10 September 2014. Photo- Lehtikuva.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja on Wednesday left the country for Brussels and Tallinn to attend an EU Arctic seminar and a two-day meeting of the Nordic and Baltic foreign ministers beginning from today.

 

According to a foreign ministry press release, in Brussels, Tuomioja is scheduled to speak at the seminar “The EU in the Arctic, the Arctic in the EU” dealing with the European Union Arctic Information Centre on Thursday. The results of the European Union Arctic Information Centre preparatory project will be published at the seminar and submitted to the European Commission. 

 

Finland’s aim is to implement the decision of setting up the information centre in Rovaniemi. The seminar is organised by the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. The minister will travel on the same day from Brussels to Estonia. 

 

In Tallinn, Tuomioja will attend the annual Nordic and Baltic Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, known as the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8), hosted by Estonia on September 11-12. The participants are the foreign ministers of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 

 

The agenda of this year’s meeting is dominated by the Ukrainian crisis and the sanctions against Russia imposed by the international community, especially the European Union. In addition, the recent NATO summit in Wales, the energy security of Europe and European cooperation, and the situation in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Iraq, will also be discussed.

 

The NB8 is an informal cooperation forum of the Nordic and Baltic countries. Each country in turn serves as the coordinating “chairman”; Estonia this year and Denmark next year.