November, 2008
An international newsletter from the Nordic Council and The Nordic Council of Ministers
Welcome to the monthly newsletter now published in a new form as a net version only. The purpose is to inform about issues on the Nordic agenda and focus on some of the events and results of the official Nordic cooperation.
The Swedish Social Democrat Sinikka Bohlin has been elected as new President of the Nordic Council when Sweden holds the Presidency in 2009. She has been a member of the Nordic Council's Swedish Delegation for almost 15 years and has been chair of the delegation since 2006. Sinikka Bohlin takes over from Erkki Tuomioja from Finland.
The Nordic ministers for the environment drew up guidelines for the Nordic countries and the Nordic Council of Ministers’ input to the UN's climate change conference to be held in Poznan, Poland at the beginning of December.
The current financial crisis and the challenges faced by the Nordic countries were discussed at a meeting in Helsinki of the Nordic Council of Ministers for Finance.
The Nordic Council of Ministers has published new guidelines for its co-operation with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for the period 2009–2013.The guidelines, which were presented by the Finnish Minister for Nordic Co-operation, Jan Vapaavuori, will form the basis for all of the work done by the Council of Ministers with the three Baltic nations.
"It will take pronounced political will combined with action to save the Baltic Sea. All the heads of state from countries around the sea should be involved in decisions that have an impact on the Baltic Sea Action Plan," the chair of the Baltic Sea Commission (HELCOM), Igor Majdanov, told a seminar in the Finnish Parliament.
The role of official Nordic co-operation in efforts to combat human trafficking was debated at the 60th Session of the Nordic Council in Helsinki, as part of an agenda that also includes the financial crisis, defence co-operation and changes to global institutions.
The Nordic countries will now invest almost half a billion into joint climate, energy and environmental research. “This will open up new business opportunities”, states Sweden’s minister of education. The initiative is part of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ work to ensure Nordic competitiveness in the global market.
There is broad support to increase Nordic defence co-operation. The Conservative group in the Nordic Council has presented a proposal for closer co-operation. In parallel, former minister of foreign affairs, Thorvald Stoltenberg, is working on a study of how co-operation can be improved.
What affect do genetically modified organisms (GMO) have on animals and humans? We don’t know enough about it. For that reason the Nordic Council now calls for GMO-free zones and tighter labelling of GMO products in the Nordic Region.
A new round of the successful Nordic Master Program is starting up now. This makes it possible to put together a course of study based on core competences at Nordic institutes of higher education. The programme has been praised by the Nordic ministers of education and research.
