Prime Minister Katainen to Chile
On 25 January, Prime Minister Katainen will travel to Chile where he will attend the summit meeting between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (EU-CELAC Summit) in Santiago on 26-27 January. Following the summit, Prime Minister Katainen's programme will continue with a bilateral Finland-Chile visit. A Team Finland trade mission for the promotion of exports and business internationalisation will make part of the programme. The aim of the visit is to enhance the countries' bilateral and trade relations and strengthen Finland's image as an attractive and innovative country.
During his visit, Prime Minister Katainen will meet the President of Chile, Sebastiàn Piñera, government ministers and Chilean business leaders. A business delegation of 23 Finnish companies, put together by Finpro, will accompany Prime Minister Katainen to Chile (a list of the companies below). The delegation represents the Finnish mining, energy, wellbeing, telecommunications and forest sectors.
Prime Minister Katainen and President Piñera will exchange views on both bilateral and international issues. Katainen will also meet the Chilean Minister of Economy, Pablo Longuiera; Minister of Energy, Jorge Bunster; Minister of Transport and Telecommunications Pedro Errázuriz; and Minister of Defence, Rodrigo Hinzpeter. There will also be a number of seminars focusing on ways to develop wide-ranging cooperation between Finland and Chile in areas such as mining, energy and telecommunications. Prime Minister Katainen will also give a speech on the economic situation in Europe at the Catholic University of Chile.
The theme of the EU-CELAC Summit will be "Alliance for Sustainable Development: Promoting Investments of Social and Environmental Quality". The EU is an important cooperation and trade partner to the Latin America and the Caribbean States, and Latin America's biggest donator of development aid. The aim of the partnership is to strengthen good governance and democracy, enhance the protection and respect of human rights and promote sustainable development and social justice. At the summit meeting, Finland's aim will be to promote free trade arrangements between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean States and deepen EU-LAC dialogue.
Inquiries: Antti Vänskä, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, International Affairs, tel. +358 9 1602 2068 or +358 40 513 1458; Pasi Rajala, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, EU Affairs, tel. +358 9 1602 2055 or +358 400 464 393, Prime Minister's Office; Roy Eriksson, Head of Unit, tel. +358 9 1605 6360 or +358 40 753 6865, Ministry for Foreign Affairs; and Kari Mokko, Director of Government Communications, tel. +358 9 1602 2012 or +358 40 751 3281
Companies represented in the business delegation: Andritz Chile Ltda., Arctic Drilling Company Oy Ltd, AW-Energy Oy, Cathodex Oy, Commit; Oy, Comptel Corporation, Finnvera, Forest Center E.I.R.L., Geological Survey of Finland, Metso Mining and Construction, Movet Oy, Nokia Siemens Networks, Normet Chile Ltda, Oilon Oy, Outotec Oyj, Portalify Ltd., Pöyry Technologia Ltd., Pöyry Finland Oy, Raute Corporation, Spinverse Oy / Tekes Green Mining Program, STX Finland Oy, Sulzer Bombas Chile Ltda, Wärtsilä Chile Ltda. and Åbo Akademi University.