Minister Leppä to attend the Agriculture Ministers’ summit and Grüne Woche in Berlin

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Jari Leppä will attend the summit of the Ministers of Agriculture in Berlin on 19 January. Minister Leppä will also visit the Finnish stand at the Grüne Woche fair.

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Jari Leppä will attend the summit of the world’s Ministers of Agriculture in Berlin, to be held in connection with the Grüne Woche fair. This year’s theme is “Shaping the Future of Livestock – sustainably, responsibly, efficiently”.  Minister Leppä will also have bilateral meetings with many of his colleagues in Europe.

At the Grüne Woche fair Minister Leppä will open Finland’s stand, which displays both Finnish foods and culinary tourism destinations in the archipelago, Salo, Kuopio and Mikkeli regions. FinnBar and Great Beers, Small Breweries at the Finnish stand will be selling products of Finnish distilleries and breweries. Almost 30 Finnish companies will be present at the stand.

“Germany is one of the main destinations for Finnish food exports. Through the Food from Finland growth programme we have successfully developed these exports. In 2017 more than 100 Finnish food products were listed to be sold at the German CITTI supermarkets. Our ambitions in terms of the growth of food exports are high indeed. Now that we are moving in the right direction, more speed is needed. We are all strongly committed to this work. In 2017 the Finnish food exports grew by 13%, by EUR 130 million. A lot of work has been done to achieve this”, Minister Leppä says.

The listing of products to the CITTI supermarkets was part of the Enjoy Finland -Reinste Natur campaign launched in cooperation between Business Finland’s Food from Finland growth programme and Visit Finland. New Finnish food products are also available at the Lieferello Online Shop of CITTI that delivers to the whole of Germany.

Grüne Woche is the world’s largest agriculture, food and horticulture fair, held every year in January in Berlin. The 83rd Grüne Woche in January 2018 is expected to bring together about 1,600 exhibitors and 400,000 visitors. Finland’s stand is financed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The organisations responsible for its coordination are the Visit Finland unit of Business Finland and Food from Finland growth programme together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Central Union for Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners MTK.

“Finland’s presence here also in the coming years is very important. However, the priority objective for Finland is to ensure the development of our food exports in the long term. It is for the government to make sure that the legislation is in order and the export authorities of the Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira have sufficient resources and, through the Food from Finland Programme of Business Finland, to help Finnish companies find their way to the world”, the Minister says.

Inquiries at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry:

Anna-Leena Miettinen, Director of Unit, tel. +358 40 033 0812, anna-leena.miettinen(at)mmm.fi
Risto Lahti, Special Adviser to the Minister, tel. +358 50 565 0424, risto.lahti(at)mmm.fi