Press release 05 June 2007
Ministry of the Environment

Environment ministers from around the world gather for climate meeting in Riksgränsen

Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren has invited environment ministers from countries all around the world to an informal meeting on climate issues on 11-14 June in Riksgränsen. The aim of the meeting is to lay the foundation for a new global climate agreement. Some 30 countries that are central to global climate negotiations have been invited.

The following countries have announced their intention to participate in the ministerial meeting: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Grenada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, Switzerland, Tuvalu, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The environment ministers will arrive in Riksgränsen on Monday 11 June. On Tuesday and Wednesday there will be discussions on the state of the global climate negotiations and important components of a future climate regime. The meeting will conclude on the morning of Thursday 14 June.

The ministers´ informal climate discussions will be closed to the media and the general public.

There will be a press briefing in Stockholm at 10.30 on 8 June, to be held in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs Press Centre, Fredsgatan 4-6. Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren will talk about the background and expectations ahead of the meeting.

There will be a press briefing at Hotell Riksgränsen at 16.00 on 11 June. Mr Carlgren, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat, Mr Yvo De Boer, and the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Mr Rajendra K Pachauri, will take part.

A press conference is being arranged at 10.00 on 14 June at Hotell Riksgränsen. Media representatives will also be able to take part by video link to the press centre at Rosenbad in Stockholm. There will be an opportunity to ask individual questions via the video link. A number of ministers will take part in the press conference.

Further information will be released separately before the press meetings.
Contacts for media representatives: Tomas Uddin, +46 70 9502245
and Eva Lindhé, +46 73 0553927.