Nassir Al-Nasser meets president of Finland

President of the United Nations General Assembly Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al-Nasr met in Helsinki President of Finland Tarja Halonen, Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja and other senior officials in the Government of Finland, during a several-days official working visit to Finland he ended last night. Al-Nasr''s the talks with Finland''s president focussed on several issues covering the key topics that will be discussed during the sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly, including sustainable development and mediation in conflict resolution, disarmament and the most important developments in the Middle East and Arab region. The General Assembly President also reviewed with President Halonen his views on the high-level debate expected to be held at the UN General Assembly next week on the Sustainable Development Report, in which the President of Finland and South African President Jacob Zuma will take part. Al-Nasr''s talks with officials in Helsinki also touched on mediation for the resolution of disputes by peaceful means which is a key issue chosen by Al-Nasr to be a major focus for discussion during his presidency of the General Assembly. Finland has made a joint initiative with Turkey on mediation as a peaceful solution and participated effectively in the General Assembly discussion on the adoption of a draft resolution on mediation last June. Al-Nasr participated during his visit to Finland in an international seminar on migration and communication organized by the Finnish Foreign Ministry, the International Organization for Migration and the Inter-Press News Agency. He delivered a speech in which he touched on the social and economic effects on development efforts resulting from migration equally from south countries to north countries or from south countries to south countries, explaining that immigrants have contributed to development efforts in the countries of origin through their remittances. In this regard, Al-Nasr also stressed the need to respect the human rights of immigrants in accordance with international laws.