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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The delegation of the Legislative Council (LegCo) continued its visit in Finland yesterday (September 16). Delegation members attended several meetings with Members of the Eduskunta, Parliament of Finland and observed a Budget Plenary Session at the Eduskunta.
In the morning, delegation members attended a meeting with the Chairman of the Constitutional Law Committee of the Eduskunta, Mr Johannes Koskinen, and learnt about Finland's political landscape, in particular the relationship between Finland and Åland, an autonomous, demilitarised, monolingually Swedish-speaking region of Finland with a population of about 28 000.
The delegation then met with the Chairman of the Committee for the Future of the Eduskunta, Ms Päivi Lipponen, and received an introduction of the powers and functions of the Committee.
Afterwards, the delegation met with the Vice-Speaker of the Eduskunta, Mr Pekka Ravi, to gain a better understanding about the Finnish legislature, in particular its rules of procedure.
The delegation also met with Professor Anne Holli from the University of Helsinki to receive a briefing on the development of the electoral system of Finland, gender equality in the Edustkunta, the future of party politics and coalition government.
After the meetings, Members observed a debate of the Budget Plenary Session at the Eduskunta, where Members of the Eduskunta met to deliberate on the Finnish Government's budget.
The delegation also attended a lunch cum meeting with the Finland-Hong Kong Trade Association before its departure for Norway in the afternoon.
The delegation will begin its visit in Norway today (September 17) and will meet with Members of the Parliament of Norway.
Ends/Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Issued at HKT 18:40
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