Senior officials from OECD countries meet in Helsinki

Finland will host the OECD meeting of Network of Senior Officials from Centres of Government (CoG) in the Helsinki Music Centre on 29-30 October. This is the first time the meeting will take place in Finland. The meeting will focus on ways to promote inclusive growth and it will be chaired by State Secretary Paula Lehtomäki from the Finnish Prime Minister's Office.

The CoG meeting will be preceded by a meeting of the OECD Public Governance Ministers in Finlandia Hall on Wednesday 28 October. The ministerial meeting will be chaired by Minister for Local Government and Public Reforms Anu Vehviläinen.

- Finland considers it very important to promote cooperation among the OECD countries. The Centres of Government network provides a unique opportunity to discuss common problems and exchange ideas on best practices. According to State Secretary Lehtomäki, Finland's strategic government programme and its implementation will serve as an internationally interesting example in these discussions.

The CoG meetings began in the 1980s, with a rotating chairmanship among the participating countries. CoG constitutes a forum for informal discussion and remains one of the OECD’s highest-level policy networks. The meeting participants are persons who provide direct support and advice to Heads of Government and Councils of Ministers, for example Heads of Prime Minister's Offices and Secretaries-General of the Government.

Inquiries: Sirpa Kekkonen, Head of Unit, Senior Adviser for Government Programme Monitoring, tel.  +358 295 160 181 and Miika Laurila, Planning Officer, tel. +358 295 160 174, Prime Minister's Office