PRESIDENT OF FINLAND MRS. TARJA HALONEN ARRIVES

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia /MONTSAME/ The President of the Republic of Finland Mrs. Tarja Halonen and her spouse Pentti Arajärvi arrived on Tuesday, August 30 in Ulaanbaatar city to pay a state visit. Mrs. Halonen has been invited by her counterpart of Mongolia Ts.Elbegdorj.
Official events of the state visit will start on Wednesday. At 10.00 a.m on the Sukhbaatar Square, the State Head Ts.Elbegdorj and his spouse Kh.Bolrmaa will welcome their counterparts from Finland.
After the ceremony, the State Heads of the countries will hold a meeting and official talks, and then will call a press conference on the bilateral relations.
Within the state visit, Mrs. Halonen will receive D.Demberel, the Parliament Speaker; S.Batbold, the Prime Minister. The Minister of Social Welfare and Labor and head of the Mongolia-Finland intergovernmental commission on economics, science and technical cooperation T.Gandi will host a reception in honor of the Finland President.
Apart of these official events, Mrs. Halonen and her spouse will leg the Gandantegchilen Monastery, the Chingis Khaan's Khuree camp, and will enjoy a small festival of the Three Manly Games (wrestling, archery and horse-race).

** ** **

Mongolia and the Republic of Finland established diplomatic relations on July 15, 1963. In 1964, the countries appointed their Ambassadors.
Leader of the Finland-Mongolia inter-parliamentary group P.Tiusanen paid a visit to Mongolia on July 10-13, 2006 for attending celebration of the 800th anniversary of the Great Mongolian State, whereas the President Ts.Elbegdorj visited Finland on October 5-7, 2010.
As for the ties in the commercial and economic spheres, Mongolia has imported goods from Finland, costing USD 12.9 million, and exported products to Finland, costing USD 24.7 million. The trade turnover reached USD 13 million in end of the last year, showing an increase by 3.5 times against the year 2009. The Mongolian side mostly imported machines and techniques for factories and mining and their spare parts, and supplied to Finland ready-made clothes, shoes, wool and cashmere.
In 1990-2008, three companies with Finn investments of USD 35.7 thousand were registered in Mongolia at light industry, trade and tourism sectors. Moreover, the “Outukumpu” company of Finland has supplied a copper-melting technology to Mongolia, and also the Sandvik Sweden-Finland joint company of mining equipment has opened its representative in Mongolia.
The Finn side has made investments of USD 42 million to Mongolia. The sides established an agreement on mutually protecting investments in 2008.
B.Khuder