URU, Alm.del - 2010-11 (1. samling) - Bilag 3: Invitation: The Nordic Foreign Affairs Committees

Dear Chairpersons of the Committees,On behalf of the United Nations system in Nordic countries, we address theForeign Affairs Committees of the five Nordic countries regarding a field visit toobserve development challenges and UN operational work in practice.We have already experienced successful visits for Nordic parliamentarians toZambia (2004), Malawi (2006), Mozambique (2007), Nicaragua (2008), and Liberia(2009). We have received very positive responses on these visits and it hasrecommended a journey to a UN duty station in Asia.Hence, we are in the process of organizing an interesting visit to Nepal. Itprovides experiences of a wide range of attention-grabbing themes, for example:reintegration of ex-combatants; reduce risks of natural disasters; and access totransitional justice as part of the current peace-building process. Nepal has alsodemonstrated impressive improvements of maternal health and very recentlyreceived a MDG Award on commitment and progress on this issue. Moreover, the UNhas a strong UN Country Team that coordinates a wide range of joint plans and aDelivering as One framework.We would highly appreciate receiving your expression of interest to participatein this visit. If affirmative, please forward a list of participants and possibly alternateparticipants. We kindly request a response no later than 15 October 2010. For yourinformation, the visit is (tentatively) scheduled in the period 17 -21 January 2011.In order to form a viable program, it is necessary that at least four Nordicparliamentarians sign up for this visit. We hope that previous participants will sharetheir experiences with potential new participants on this once-a-year opportunity toget a first hand impression of the work of the UN in the field.

Please direct your responses and/or questions to the respective national focalpoints:Finland – Jakob Simonsen, +45 35 46 70 10, [email protected]Sweden – Monica Lorensson, +46 854 523 250, [email protected]Norway – Kristian Andersen, + 47 22 12 16 15, [email protected]Iceland – Birgitte Pedersen, +45 3546 7134, [email protected]Denmark – Pernille Fenger, +45 3546 7033, [email protected]We are looking forward to your reactions.Yours sincerely,