President Halonen to attend the opening of the UN General Assembly

Office of the President of the Republic of Finland Press Release 17 September 2008

President of the Republic Tarja Halonen will be in New York for the opening of the 63rd Session of the UN General Assembly on 21-27 September 2008. President Halonen will head the Finnish delegation and will deliver Finland's statement as part of the general debate on Tuesday, 23 September. Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will serve as vice-chairmen of the delegation.

Key themes during the opening week will be the Millennium Development Goals and Africa's development needs. President Halonen will participate in the high-level meetings on both these themes as well as related events.

Before the start of the general debate President Halonen will attend the high-level meeting on Africa's development needs and co-chair a roundtable on Monday, 22 September. At the high-level meeting on the Millennium Development Goals on Thursday, 25 September, President Halonen will co-chair a roundtable on environmental sustainability. Together with the Presidents of Tanzania and Chile she will host a partnership event on maternal and child health in connection with the Millennium Development Goals.

President Halonen will be one of the main speakers at forum on decent work arranged by the International Labour Organization on 22 September. In addition she will participate in a meeting of women leaders convened by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as well as the Forbes Executive Women's Forum and a special event focusing on equality issues.

The opening week programme also includes a reception hosted by President George W. Bush, the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting hosted by former President Bill Clinton and bilateral meetings with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and several heads of state.

UN General Assembly