Helsinki region to host 70 meetings during Finland’s EU Presidency

ASEM summit to bring 4,500 guests to Finnish capital in September

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Helsinki and its neighbouring communities look set to host around 70 meetings during Finland’s 6-month turn at the European Union Presidency starting July 1st. During the second half of 2006, over 130 meetings will be organised in Finland, nine of which will be unofficial ministerial meetings.
     
The biggest event will be the Asia-Europe summit (ASEM) in Helsinki on September 10th to 11th. The summit’s 4,500 international guests will include members of various delegations plus journalists and security personnel.
      Most of the organised meetings will be unofficial gatherings attended by a few hundred participants.
     
The ASEM summit will take place at the Helsinki Fair Centre. Other meeting venues include the Finlandia Hall, The House of the Estates, and some of the better hotels in Helsinki.
      "The ASEM summit and the related security arrangements will have a certain impact to the everyday life of Helsinki residents, but efforts will be made to organise most other meetings without causing undue trouble to locals", explains Anja Vilo, the Head of the Secretariat for the Finnish EU Presidency.
      According to Vilo, the programme for most of the meetings is still partly open. Additional events, for one, remain thus far somewhat undecided.
     
The flow of various delegations to Helsinki will commence at the beginning of July. The European Commission will have an audience with the Finnish government on July 3rd. An unofficial meeting of European labour, social affairs and health ministers on July 6th to 8th will be the next notable event.
      During the ASEM meeting, Helsinki hotels will be fully booked. Some hotels in Espoo and Vantaa will also be used to accommodate guests.
      Any other time during the Finnish EU Presidency, there should be plenty of accommodation space available even for ordinary travellers.
      Vilo confirms that the Secretariat for the Finnish EU Presidency has held negotiations with the City of Helsinki to assure that a minimum amount of road work and other disturbances would take place during the 6-month term.
     
Eero Waronen, the head of the information Office of the City of Helsinki, confirms that the Public Works Department will plan its schedule in such a way that streets relevant to the logistics of any meeting will remain open.
      "I believe the Public Works Department will make allowance for the EU Presidency even when scheduling planting and other parkland works", Waronen reckons.
      According to Waronen, the aim is to invest in the marketing opportunity offered by the EU Presidency in the same fashion as was done last year when Helsinki hosted the IAAF World Championships in athletics.
     
"We will not organise a separate advertising campaign, but we will utilise various opportunities to offer tourist information."
      Finland’s term at the EU helm will have its own logo and visual image, which will be made public in early June. According to Vilo, the City of Helsinki will have free hands to use them at its own discretion.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland to hold over 3,300 meetings during its EU Presidency (1.12.2005)

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