Heads of state and government to attend Baltic Sea Action Summit in Helsinki

Office of the President of the Republic
Government Communications Unit
Press release 1.2.2010

The Baltic Sea Action Summit to be held on 10 February 2010 at Finlandia Hall will bring high-level representatives of ten Baltic Sea states to Helsinki. Seven heads of state or government have confirmed their participation in the Summit which will also gather representatives of NGOs and the business sector.

His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf will represent Sweden at the Summit and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will be the representative of Russia. Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen will also attend the Helsinki Summit.

In addition, Germany’s Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Ilse Aigner, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Waldemar Pawlak and Commissioner-designate for Regional policy Johannes Hahn of the European Commission have confirmed their participation.

The Baltic Sea Action Summit is a joint initiative of the President of the Republic Tarja Halonen, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and the Baltic Sea Action Group. Its purpose is to bring together such public, private and third sector operators of the Baltic Sea area who are willing to make concrete commitments contributing to the recovery of the Baltic Sea. The participants of the Summit will seek solutions to save the Baltic Sea and present their own commitments – altogether over a hundred undertakings.

Further information on the Summit is available at www.bsas.fi.