On February 8 and 9, 2011, Alexander Stubb, Finnish Foreign Minister, visited St.Petersburg. The visit was due to the opening in St.Petersburg the new Visa Application Centre of Finland. The center started its operation on February 11, at 21/5 Stremyannaya Street. According to Mr Stubb, the center will be the largest in the world.
On February 8 and 9, 2011, Alexander Stubb, Finnish Foreign Minister, visited St.Petersburg. The visit was due to the opening in St.Petersburg the new Visa Application Centre of Finland. The center started its operation on February 11, at 21/5 Stremyannaya Street. According to Mr Stubb, the center will be the largest in the world.
Within the confines of this visit, Mr Stubb met with St.Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko in Smolny on February 8.
The governor thanked Mr Stubb for creating comfortable conditions for Petersburgers applying for Finnish visa. She expressed her hope that for the Finns, the visit to St.Petersburg would be the same pleasure as the visit to Finland for Petersburgers. In his turn, Mr Stubb noted the importance of trade relations between the two countries and expressed the hope that by 2018, the visa-free regime would be established between Russia and the EU.
During his visit, Mr Stubb also met with I.I.Klebanov, Plenipotentiary Representative of President of Russian Federation in the North-Western Federal District, and V.P.Serdyukov, Governor of Leningrad Region.