The First Sister Town Congress of Russia and Finland

The First Sister Town Congress of Russia and Finland was held in September 14-15 in Kuopio. The mayors of many cities of Russia and Finland participated in the Congress. Karelian delegation was headed by the Head of the Government RK Sergey Katanandov.

The issues of economic, scientific and cultural sister town cooperation were discussed. The President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari sent a greeting to the Congress where he called the perspectives of Karelian- Finnish frontier cooperation especially promising. The results of this cooperation work were positively estimated in the reports of the speakers both from Russian and Finnish parties. With great interest the participants of the Congress listened to the report of the Head of the Government RK Sergey Katanandov on the theme "Local power body development in Russia. The view from Karelia".

There also were held workshops and sectional sittings, dedicated to public health care system development, environment protection, the role of local administrations in international cooperation RF, Finland and other EU countries and also the frontier territory cooperation. The Minister of Foreign Relations V. Shlyamin made a report on the theme "The pre-conditions of foreign economic relation development between the Republic of Karelia and Finland"

The Congress was timed to coincide with the 200 anniversary of the great Russian poet Pushkin celebration in Finland.

The next Sister Town Congress of Russia and Finland will be held in Pskov, Russia in 2003.

Information of the Ministries of the Republic of Karelia