MFA: Minister for Foreign Affairs Soini to visit Iceland

The visit will be hosted by Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson. During his visit, Minister Timo Soini will also meet with President of Iceland Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, Prime Minister of IcelandKatrín Jakobsdóttir and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Althingi (parliament) Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir.

Their discussions will focus on the bilateral relations between Finland and Iceland and on topical international questions. Arctic issues will also feature prominently in the discussions. Iceland will take over the Chairmanship of the Arctic Council from Finland in May of next year.

During its term as Chair, Finland’s main priority has been to accelerate the implementation of concrete measures to reduce black carbon emissions. We hope that Iceland will continue this work during its Chairmanship term.

“My main message to Iceland is that they can rely on support from Finland in preparing their chairmanship programme. The Arctic region is shared by all of us, and we all have to work together on its behalf,” Minister Soini emphasises.

During the visit, Minister Soini will also speak about Arctic cooperation and discuss the issues with experts from the University of Akureyri. Akureyri is a centre for Arctic research in Iceland and the second-largest urban centre in the country after the Reykjavík metropolitan area.

Inquiries: Katja Kalamäki, Diplomatic Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 351 518 and Ann-Christine Krank, Counsellor, Unit for Northern Europe, tel. +358 295 350 111.

The Foreign Ministry’s email addresses are in the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.