President Halonen met President of Brazil

President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen met with President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil on Thursday 6 April 2006 in Brazil. The two Presidents discussed bilateral relations between Finland and Brazil, Finland's forthcoming Presidency of the EU, and the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit that will be held in Austria in May 2006. They also talked about the political situation in Brazil as well as a range of international issues such as the current state of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations.

President Lula of Brazil and President Halonen. The photo is from an official visit in 2003.

President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen travelled to Brazil on 3 – 6 April 2006 to attend a meeting of the Panel of Eminent Persons established by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The task of the Panel is to propose new strategies for the organization aimed at heightening its impact. The group consisting of eight people is be chaired by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brazil. Other members are Jagdish Bhagwati, Eminent Professor of Economics at Columbia University, Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former Director-General of the World Health Organization, Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique, Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania, Lawrence Summers, President of Harvard University and former US Treasury Secretary and Long Yongtu, former Trade Representative of China.

UNCTAD has been established in 1964, and it’s the focal point of the United Nations for the integrated treatment of trade and development and interrelated issues in the areas of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development.

UNCTAD