Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland to visit Finland
Press Release 180/2010
7 June 2010
Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, will visit Finland on 8–9 June, at the invitation of President of the Republic Tarja Halonen. During his visit Jagland will meet with President Tarja Halonen, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, Minister of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors, Minister of Public Administration and Local Government Mari Kiviniemi and members of the Finnish delegation to the Council of Europe. Topics of discussion during the visit will include the position of the Council of Europe in the architecture of European organizations and strengthening of that position, as well as Finland’s priorities in the organization.
Before his appointment to the post of Secretary General of the Council of Europe in September 2009, Jagland served, for instance, as Prime Minister of Norway in 1996-1997 and Foreign Minister in 2000–2001. Jagland was appointed Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in 2009.
During his visit Jagland will also open the exhibition honouring the life’s work of the Russian human rights activist Andrei Saharov, laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, at the National Archives of Finland. The exhibition, on display in the lobby of the National Archives, is open to the public from 9 June to 6 August.
Additional information: Sofie From-Emmesberger, Head of the Unit for Human Rights Policy, tel. +358 9 1605 6551 or mobile tel. +358 40 568 8641, First Secretary Pasi Kokkonen, tel. +358 9 1605 5323 or mobile tel. +358 40 168 3548.
