The ski resort Saarisälke is located just south of Ivalo not far from Finland’s border to Russia in the north.
On 22-24 March, Finland’s Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb will host a high-level informal meeting, named “Lapland Retreat 2013.”
Discussions at the informal meeting will focus on the future of Europe. The intention is to bring European leaders together to discuss issues concerning the future of Europe and the European Union in an informal and leisurely way.
The agenda will not include topical issues and the meeting will not be making decisions or guidelines.
The Lapland Retreat 2013 will be attended by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, Irish Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton, Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, and member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank Jörg Asmussen.
The meeting is the first of two meetings in the Barents Region where several Prime Ministers gather this spring. On June 4, the Prime Ministers of Russia, Norway, Finland and Sweden will meet in Kirkenes to mark the 20-years anniversary of the Barents cooperation.
