How North is Manchester?

In the season of reindeer and snow, Finns, Swedes and other 'North Europeans' will be travelling south to Manchester to talk about - the North!

The Manchester European Research Institute (MERI) and the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at Manchester University are hosting an international conference on the Northern Dimension policy of the European Union.

The conference (12-13 December) will bring together speakers from the Swedish and Finnish governments, the European Commission and the European Parliament and from a European regional body, the Council for Baltic Sea States.

The Northern Dimension policy was a Finnish initiative taken up by the EU and encourages practical cooperation between the EU, Norway, Iceland and Russia in Northern Europe in a host of areas including trade, energy, the environment, justice and home affairs.

Director of MERI, Professor Clive Archer, who will open the conference, said: "The European Parliament has given new impetus to the Northern Dimension.

"The Manchester conference will bring together officials and academics, professors and young researchers, and will allow them to have their say on the development of this policy."

Key participants include Maimo Henriksson, Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christer Persson, Ambassador, Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Philipp Schwartz, Secretariat, Council of Baltic Sea States.

Anyone interested in attending the conference or joining one of the sessions should contact Clive Archer at c.archer@mmu.ac.uk

Further details, including the full programme, can be seen on the Network's web-site: www.mmu.ac.uk/northerndimension