SuomiAreena is an annual public debate forum held in

Pori Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It is organized by City of Pori and Finnish TV-channel

MTV3 MTV3 (, ) is a Finnish commercial television channel owned and operated by the media company MTV Oy, originally launched on 13 August 1957 as a programming block, becoming its own channel on 1 January 1993. It had the biggest audience share ...

. The forum was first arranged in 2006 and it is inspired by Swedish

Almedalen Week The Almedalen Week (, ), also known as Politician's Week in Almedalen () is an annual event taking place in week 26 in and around Almedalen, a park in the city of Visby, Gotland, Sweden. With speeches, seminars and other political activities, ...

Visby Visby () is an urban areas in Sweden, urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic League, ...

. SuomiAreena is held in July, simultaneously with

Pori Jazz Pori Jazz is a large international jazz festival, held annually during the month of July in the coastal city of Pori (a population of 82,809 in January 2010), Finland. It is one of the oldest and best known jazz festivals in Europe, having be ...

which is one of the largest

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

festivals in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. 2013 SuomiAreena consists of 125 events and more than 600 debaters and speakers. The events take place in different locations around the city. They are held in cafés, restaurants, parks, theaters, outdoor stages and other suitable places. Topics of the panel discussions are related to various subjects like politics, society, economics, culture and religion. Along with Finnish

activists Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

, politicians and other influential people SuomiAreena has a large number of international participants. Most notable international guests have been the President of the European Commission

José Manuel Barroso José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and law professor. He previously served from 2002 to 2004 as the List of Prime Ministers of Portugal, 114th prime minister of Portugal and from 2004–2014 as the 11 ...

(2006), president of the European Central Bank

Jean-Claude Trichet Jean-Claude Trichet (; born 20 December 1942) is an economist and high-ranking French official who was President of the European Central Bank from 2004 to 2011. Previous to his assumption of the presidency he was Governor of the Bank of France ...

(2007), Director General of the

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

Network Wadah Khanfar (2009), Secretary-General of the United Nations

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

(2011) and Nobel Peace Laureate

Tawakkol Karman Tawakkol Abdel-Salam Khalid Karman (; ; born 7 February 1979) is a Yemeni journalist, politician, and human rights activist. She co-founded and leads 'Women Journalists Without Chains', a group established in 2005 to advocate for press freedom ...

(2012).

References

External links

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SuomiAreena Official Homepage
{{Finland-poli-stub Political congresses Politics of Finland Annual events in Finland Pori Summer in Finland