Prime Minister George Papandreou is due in Norway on Thursday to participate in a major Progressive Governance Conference themed "A post-crisis agenda for the centre -left: securing shared prosperity" that opens in Oslo on Thursday.
The two-day conference is organised by Policy Network in partnership with the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the participation of the Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg.
At 8:00 p.m., Papandreou will attend a working dinner hosted for the conference participants, while on Friday morning he will address a plenary discussion on the "Future jobs and growth: How can centre-left governments make a difference?".
The prime ministers of Norway Jens Stoltenberg and Spain Jose Zapatero, the President of Serbia Boris Tadic, the deputy prime minister of Ireland Eamon Gilmore and the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Pascal Lamy will also take part in the debate.
The participants will hold a press conference immediately after the end of the conference.
The Greek premier will further have a bilateral meeting with his Norwegian counterpart and conference host Jens Stoltenberg.
The conference brings together centre-left leaders from across Europe and other countries around the world, as well as over 200 leading academics, political thinkers and policymakers.
According to the organisers, the timing of the conference is crucial: almost everywhere, the centre-left is either out of power or encountering difficulties in office. In Europe, social democratic parties are not just electorally weak, but also appear to have lost the ideological, intellectual and organisational vitality which enabled them to leave such a strong imprint on the 20th century.
The objective of this political gathering is to imbue centre-left politics with a new and bold impetus for change. In setting out to outline priorities for a new political economy, the thematic focus will be on the state and its institutions, the social market economy and employment and the workplace, the organisers said.
ANA-MPA
