The Office of Finnish Agriculture, Forestry and Cooperatives 
30 YEARS IN BRUSSELS  

The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners MTK, the Central Union of Swedish-speaking Farmers and Forest Owners SLC and Pellervo Coop Center have had a joint office in Brussels since 1991.  

We celebrated our three decades in Brussels on Wednesday the 26th of October 2022 with seminar and gala dinner.  
 
In the seminar, the chairmen of the three organizations, Juha Marttila (MTK), Mats Nylund (SLC) and Petri Pitkänen (Pellervo), talked about the past and outlined the future. Wolfgang Burtscher, Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, gave a speech on the EU's agricultural policy. We also heard MEP Elsi Katainen and the EESC's greeting from the chairman of the civil society group Séamus Boland. Councellor Tapio Kytölä, from the Permanent Representation of Finland in the EU, talked about the history of the Brussels office. You can find the seminar recording here.
 
At the Gala Reception in Concert Noble, we enjoyed the Finnish Gala Buffet by Chef Kim Palhus, listened to the music performance by Pop Kantele Diva Ida Elina (kantele = Finnish zither) and heard the address of Secretary General Pekka Pesonen of Copa-Cogeca. 
 
We have released a publication in Finnish covering the history of the office, mainly the last 10 years as there was a similar publication for the 20th anniversary. The publication covers the main events of the past 10 years through the eyes of the office staff members of the time and MTK, SLC and Pellervo’s key actors involved in the EU work. The name of the publication is ‘Office of Finnish agriculture, forestry and co-operatives 30 years - Suomen maa- ja metsätalouden ja osuuskuntien Brysselin toimisto 30 vuotta’ and printed copies can be found at the Brussels office and MTK, SLC and Pellervo’s headquarters in Helsinki and online. 

SLC's page for the anniversary can be found here.

You can find photos and social media updates of the seminar here:

Seminar

Gala

‪#‎Bryssel30v – Explore | Facebook

#Bryssel30v - Twitter-haku / Twitter

Instagram #Bryssel30v

Our history publication can be found here: https://www.mtk.fi/web/en/-/30-years-in-brussels-history-publication  

Events that were organized during the anniversary year can be dound here.