The Finnish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2011

In the beginning of January, Finland took over the chairmanship of the Nordic Council of Ministers from Denmark and will target climate change - combating and adapting to it - in 2011.

"Targeting climate change is the focal point of our programme. Our goal is to further develop the image of the Nordic region as an active player and driver in climate politics as well to emphasise that the achievement of climate-friendly solutions and sustainable development calls for broad and cross-sectoral effort," explained Kiviniemi when introducing the presidency programme "The Nordic Region: a Green Climate Leader".

Apart from climate issues, during its presidency Finland will focus on implementing the action plan for the globalisation of the Nordic region and introducing grassroots-level cooperation between the Nordic countries.

Finland endeavours to realise the globalisation effort by means of the Top Level Research Initiative, the biggest ever Nordic investment in research and innovation, which focuses on climate, energy and the environment. Finland underlines that researches and scientists are able to achieve top-level results only when they are provided with the best tools.

The Finnish sentiment is that more active involvement of young people is of critical importance in order to ensure continuous cooperation between the Nordic countries. The latter would strengthen their Nordic identity as well as their knowledge of Nordic languages. Nordic cooperation will be brought closer to the public by continuous interventions to remove border barriers.