Finland: Ministers Haavisto and Skinnari to co-host 2020 Afghanistan Conference in Geneva

NordenBladet — Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will travel Geneva to lead the 2020 Afghanistan Conference to be held on 23–24 November. Finland has co-organised the conference together with the Afghan Government and the United Nations. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the international ministerial conference will be held virtually from Geneva.

At the conference, the Afghan Government and the international community will determine their shared commitments to the development and stability of Afghanistan in 2021–2024.  The conference coincides with an important period of time from the point of view of the future of Afghanistan, because the historic Afghan-Taliban peace talks started in September in Doha. In addition to the Finnish Ministers, Acting  Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar and Afghan Minister of Finance Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal will be present in Geneva. UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons will speak on behalf of the United Nations.

The two-day programme includes bilateral meetings between ministers and the Government of Switzerland and representatives of international organisations based in Geneva.A live webcast of the conference will be available on the United Nations website.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi