Ambassade van IJsland - Brussel, België

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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