Prime Minister Sipilä to travel to Warsaw for an official working visit and to attend a Finland 100 event

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä will make a working visit to Poland on 12 January and meet with the Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło. This is Prime Minister Sipilä’s first visit abroad during the centenary year of Finland’s independence, and during the visit he will inaugurate an exhibition presenting Finnish architecture and design. The exhibition is one of the most significant international projects included in the official Finland 100 programme.

At their meeting, Prime Ministers Sipilä and Szydło will discuss topical EU issues, the security situation in the Baltic Sea region, and regional cooperation in the energy and transport sectors. The ministers will also discuss bilateral matters such as possibilities for economic cooperation.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Sipilä will attend a discussion event for Finnish and Polish businesses. The event deals with bioenergy and other innovations in the energy sector.    

During his visit to Warsaw, Sipilä will also inaugurate an exhibition presenting Finnish design and architecture from the beginning of the country’s independence until the present day. The exhibition is called Echoes – 100 Years in Finnish Design and Architecture and it depicts how the four seasons and the varying natural conditions have inspired designers to search for practical solutions to the challenges of everyday life. The exhibition will be launched at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN, which is designed by the Finnish architect Rainer Mahlamäki. The museum received the Finlandia Prize for Architecture in 2014 and was selected as the European Museum of the Year in 2016. In addition to Warsaw, the exhibition will be displayed in Bratislava, Prague, Budapest and Berlin in the course of 2017.

Inquiries: Anna-Kaisa Heikkinen, Special Adviser (International Affairs), tel. +358 40 7483 867 and Kare Halonen, State Secretary, EU Affairs, tel. +358 295 160 315, Prime Minister’s Office 

Further information on media arrangements: Anne Sjöholm, Head of Communications for EU Affairs, tel. +358 40 537 0733, Prime Minister’s Office.