Embassy of Iceland - Brussels, Belgium

Nú má finna yfirlitsskýrslu sendiráðsins vegna fyrri hluta árs 2008 á heimasíðu sendiráðsins.

Yfirlitsskýrsla sendiráðsins vegna fyrri hluta árs 2008.

The Scandinavian school in Brussels has a new website www.scandinavianschool.be. The Scandinavian school offers courses in Icelandic.

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Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir umhverfisráðherra tók þátt í ráðstefnu framkvæmdastjórnar Evrópusambandsins um loftslagsbreytingar og jarðveg í Brussel s.l. fimmtudag. Umhverfisráðherra tók þátt í ráðstefnunni í boði Stavros Dimas, umhverfisstjóra Evrópusambandsins. Um 500 manns sóttu ráðstefnuna frá nær öllum aðildarríkjum Sameinuðu þjóðanna.

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The Icelandic Minister of Justice, Björn Bjarnason, met with Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European Commission, Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, on the 28 February 2008.

Mikil stemning var á tónleikakvöldi Iceland Airwaves í Brussel þann 15. febrúar sl. en kvöldið var var hluti af Iceland on the Edge hátíðinni sem stendur nú yfir í Brussel. Fjórar íslenskar hljómsveitir/listamenn tóku þátt: Ólafur Arnalds, Seabear, Jóhann Jóhannsson og Amiina. Tónleikarnir voru haldnir í BOZAR, stærstu lista- og menningarmiðstöð Belgíu. Um 500 manns sóttu kvöldið og var uppselt.

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Nýlega var hleypt af stokkunum nýjum menningarsjóði, sem ætlað er að auka samskipti milli Póllands og EES/EFTA – ríkjanna Íslands, Lichtenstein og Noregs. Sjóðurinn mun starfa árin 2008 til 2010 og hafa til ráðstöfunar um 400 millj. kr., sem deilast á starfstímann.

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From 7-11 Februry Iceland is present at Vakantiesalon Travel Fair which is held annually in Brussels. Iceland's participation is organized by the Icelandic Tourist Board in cooperation with the Embassy.

The potentials of using geothermal energy as a renewable energy source were discussed for the first time in Brussels at an event organised by the Minister of Industry in Iceland at the invitation of Andris Piebalgs, Commissioner for Energy.

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Dagana 22.- 24. apríl nk. verður sjávarútvegssýningin European Seafood Exposition og Seafood Processing Europe í Brussel. Í tengslum við sýninguna skipuleggur Evrópumiðstöð Impru á Nýsköpunarmiðstöð Íslands svokölluð fyrirtækjastefnumót þar sem íslensk fyrirtæki geta sent inn prófíla um tækninýjungar í sjávarútvegi og fiskiðnaði.

Einar Kristinn Guðfinnsson, sjávarútvegs- og landbúnaðarráðherra, hitti þann 16. janúar Marianne Fischer Boel, framkvæmdastjóra landbúnaðarmála Evrópusambandsins, á fundi í Brussel. Þau ræddu stöðu landbúnaðarmála í alþjóðlegu samhengi og þær breytingar sem unnið er að á vettvangi Evrópusambandsins um þessar mundir.

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The Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, visited Brussels on this week and met with high officials in NATO and the EU.

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On 25 July Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway together with the European Commission, Romania and Bulgaria signed the EEA Enlargement Agreement providing for the participation of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania in the European Economic Area.

Yfirlitsskýsla sendiráðssins í Brussel fyrir fyrrihluta þessa árs (janúar – júní 2007) er komin út.

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The Icelandic artists Katrin Fridriks and Gudrun Benedikta Eliasdottir opened an exhibition in Fortis bank building in the center of Luxembourg on 2 July.

The Icelandic government has submitted its comments to the EU´s Green Paper on a European Maritime Policy.

Dominique Ambroise will have an exhibition opening in the l’Hôtel Communal de Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Avenue Charles Thielemans, 93 – 1150 Bruxelles on 3 May 2007.

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The Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs draws attention to the fact that the deadline for applying for the re-granting of Icelandic citizenship under the Interim Provision of the Icelandic Citizenship Act, No. 100/1952 (cf. the Act No. 9/2003) is 1 July 2007.

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On the 28th of March, Gudrun Benedikta will have an exhibition opening at Hotel Parc Beaux-Arts at 6.30 pm. This beautiful hotel is located downtown Luxembourg at 1 rue Siegfroi, right next to the Musée National d´Histoire et d´Art. The exhibition will be open daily from 7am to 11pm until the 13th of May. More information can be found at www.rbenedikta.com.

The Icelandic Minister for the Environment, met with Stavros Dimas, the Commissioner for Environment on the 28 February 2007.

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The Icelandic Minister for the environment Jónína Bjartmarz met on Tuesday 20 February with EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou in Brussels to discuss food security and possible Icelandic membership of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA).

A large number of calls for proposals in the new programmes are already open, and will close in the next months. The Commission has explained that applications with EFTA participants will be received and evaluated on equal basis as applications from EU countries.

Stefán H. Jóhannesson, Ambassador of Icealand in association with the EFTA Group of the Association Femmes d´Europe organized a Valentine concert at the residence on 14 February, where Bára Grímsdóttir, a singer and composer and Chris Foster, a singer and guitar player, performed Icelandic and English traditional songs.

Ms. Siv Fridleifsdottir, the Icelandic Minister of Health and Social Affairs met with officials from the EFTA secretariat, the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) and the Embassy of Iceland in Brussels on the 12 and 13 February 2007 to discuss various issues in relation to the EEA Agreement in the field of health and social affairs.

The Icelandic Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Jón Sigurdson, came on a two day visit to Brussels on the 8 and 9 February 2007. The Minister met with two EU Commissioners and discussed policies and the developments within the EU as regards businesses, industry and competition.

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Magnús Stefánsson, the Icelandic Minister of Social Affairs, visited Brussels last week together with a delegation.

Valgerður Sverrisdóttir, the Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, visited the Icelandic Embassy in Brussels end January. The purpose of the visit to Brussels was to attend a NATO ministerial meeting on January 26.

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Following the presentation of the eSafety Commission Communication titled "Bringing eCall back on track" in the Telecommunications, Transport and Energy Council of 11 December, Iceland signed the eCall Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This brings up to 10 the number of countries that have signed the Memorandum.

Magnús Stefánsson, the Icelandic Minister of Social Affairs, visited Brussels last week on the occasion of the opening of the office of the Icelandic local authorities.

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Delivered in the Althing on 16 November 2006

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The Finance Ministers of the EU and the EFTA states discussed energy issues at their meeting today in Brussels. Mr. Bjorn Bjarnason, Minister of Justice attended the meeting on behalf of Iceland.

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On 8 November til 10 December 2006 the Belgian photographer Nicolas Springael will exhibit in Brussels photographs from Iceland on the occasion of the publishing of his new book “Entre failles et tempêtes, Islande”.  

According to a yearly survey conducted by Transparency International, Iceland, Finland and New Zealand have the least corrupt public administrations among the world's countries.

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The Icelandic Minister of Finance, Árni M. Mathiesen, had on the 18 and 19 October 2006 meetings with three Commissioners of the European Commission, Joacquin Almunia, Commissioner for Economic and Monetary affairs, László Kovács, Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union and Dalia Grybauskatié, Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget

Statement by H.E. Mrs. Valgerður Sverrisdóttir Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland at the Sixty-first Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

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Iceland’s Minister of Social Affairs convened the first men’s conference on gender equality in Iceland on December 1 2005. The conference was only intended for men, with the exception that Mrs. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, former president of Iceland, addressed the conference and was in attendance as its guardian and guest of honour.