The Forum will revolve around the current status and future of the arctic region under the title “Heading North – the Arctic Region”.
In addition to the President of Finland, invited speakers includes Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen, Arctic Affairs Ambassador Hannu Halinen from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Professor Paula Kankaanpää, Director of the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland, and Klemetti Näkkäläjärvi, the President of the Finnish Sámi Parliament. The event will be chaired by Tarmo Ropponen.
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Participants from different areas of society, including Members of Parliament, researchers, decision makers from Northern Finland and representatives of various authorities and organisations, have been invited to the forum.
Presidential Forums have been arranged since 2006. Themes on previous occasions have included Finnish labour competitiveness, expertise and innovations, foreign policy, care for the elderly, the Baltic Sea, tolerance, municipal services, the “silent years” in Finnish history, Finland in the face of change, fundamental and human rights, jobs and unemployment, climate change, family violence, globalisation and the UN Millennium Development Goals, and peacekeeping and crisis management.
