President Halonen to meet the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Office of the President of the Republic of Finland Press Release 13 February 2008

President of the Republic Tarja Halonen will meet Dr R.K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, 14 February 2008. Topical issues on climate change and actions following the Bali Climate Change Conference will be discussed at the meeting.

The annual Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, DSDS, was set up on the initiative of Chairman Pachauri. President Halonen is a patron of the Forum that supports the Summit and she attended the Summit in January 2007. Chairman Pachauri and President Halonen last met in connection with the UN High-Level Event on Climate Change in New York, September 2007.

Dr Pachauri is the Director-General of the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) based in India, and he has held the position of the Chairman of the IPCC since 2002. The IPCC together with former US Vice-President Al-Gore were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

In Finland, Dr Pachauri will attend a seminar organised by the Finnish Meteorological Institute. He will also give a speech on the challenges of climate change at an event arranged by the Väinö Tanner Foundation and meet Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen among others.