Finnish Premier arrives in Cyprus for an official visit

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen arrived in Cyprus on Wednesday for a two-day official visit.

Vanhanen begins his meetings on Thursday where he will be received by President of the Republic Tassos Papadopoulos. After an official welcoming ceremony and a meeting of the two, there will be official talks.

The Finnish Premier will then depart for a meeting with House of Representatives President Demetris Christofias. He will then meet the chairman and members of the House Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and then he will depart for the Presidential Palace for a working lunch. Statements to the press will follow.

Vanhanen, whose country assumes the EU presidency at the end of the Austrian term, will visit the UNFICYP headquarters and meet the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Chief of Mission Michael Moller.

He will go on a guided tour in the buffer zone and then attend a reception in his honour hosted by Finland’s ambassador to Cyprus Risto Piipponen.

He departs from Cyprus Thursday evening.