Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Press Release 5/2016
8 February 2016
President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö will attend the international Munich Security Conference on 12-14 February 2016. This year’s conference themes are the Syrian war, terrorism, the refugee crisis and the European security order.
President Niinistö will attend events such as a high-level debate addressing challenges of international security policy. The presidents of Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland, and the President of the European Parliament, will also participate in the panel. In addition, President Niinistö will hold bilateral meetings during the conference.
Arranged since 1963, the Munich Security Conference is an independent forum dedicated to promoting peaceful conflict resolution and international cooperation and dialogue in dealing with today’s and future security challenges. Over 400 foreign and security policy opinion-makers will attend the conference, including around 20 heads of state or government and 60 ministers. The participants will include US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Wolfgang Ischinger, the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, attended the 2015 Kultaranta talks and was one of the main speakers at the Foreign and Security Policy debates hosted at the time by President Niinistö.