CFR GHANA PRESS RELEASE

He will speak at the on the topic, “Africa-EU Alliance: A Relationship for the Future” at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre for IT Excellence near the State House in Accra.

Mr. Katainen was Prime Minister of Finland from 2011-2014. He is responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness.

The lecture comes less than three weeks after landmark elections to the European parliament which saw the highest voter turnout in two decades. The elections also saw an increase in support for far-right parties in Italy and France, whilst green parties made record gains across northern Europe.

In Britain, where voters have chosen to leave the EU, the two main parties – Labour and Conservative – fell behind the Brexit Party, founded six weeks before the polls.

Mr. Katainen is expected to address the implications of the shifts in the EU for its future relations with Africa.

His lecture is the fourth in the CFR’s “Distinguished Guests Lecture Series”.

The last speaker was the UN General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces. Other speakers have been Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the UN Secretar4y-General’s’s special rep-representative to West Africa and the Sahel, Baroness Valerie Ann Amos, British Diplomat and politician.