Contributor(s): Erkki Tuomioja | Minister Tuomioja will outline his views on international security challenges and the responses that are urgently needed. He will comment on the state of the European Union and argue for a new, comprehensive foreign and security policy strategy for the EU. He will also set out the prospects for the further deepening of Nordic co-operation. Erkki Tuomioja is Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs, a position he has held since June 2011. He previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2000-2007, and Minister of Trade and Industry from 1999-2000. He was a member of parliament for the Social Democratic Party from 1970-79 and from 1991 to the present day, serving as vice-chairman of the SDP parliamentary group from 1991-96, and chairman from 1996-99. He worked as a journalist before being elected to parliament. He was Deputy Mayor in Helsinki 1979-91. He has a PhD in political science, BSc in economics and holds a lectureship in political history in the University of Helsinki. Mr Tuomioja is the author of 18 books, including Europe and the Nordic Fringe written in English and published in 1991.
