Nine premiers attend Swedish talks on role of women and elderly

Feb 8, 2012, 15:45 GMT

Stockholm - Nine prime ministers including Britain's David Cameron were gathering Wednesday for informal talks concerning future challenges such as keeping senior citizens in the labour force.

The Northern Future Forum, hosted by Swedish prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, opens with a dinner Wednesday and continues Thursday. Round-table discussions are also to include academics and business leaders invited by each prime minister.

Reinfeldt and Cameron were set to be in the same round-table group that would discuss the second topic, the promotion of woman entrepreneurs and as leaders in the workforce.

Their discussion partners include Stina Honkamaa, head of Google Sweden, Estonian fashion designer Reet Aus, and Heli Jarvinen, head of Finland's Central Association of Women Entrepreneurs, organizers said.

The meeting offers the participants to exchange views and experiences such as initiatives to offer start-up funding or programmes to encourage girls and young women to be more interested in entrepreneurship.

Later, Reinfeldt and his Danish counterpart Helle Thorning-Schmidt were to discuss how to keep senior citizens in the workforce.

Reinfeldt has triggered a debate in Sweden after in an interview stating that there was need to consider extending working life beyond the traditional 65-year retirement age, to enhance flexibility and shore up pension systems.

Initial public reactions were cool but the prime minister said that it was necessary to start considering challenges on pension and welfare systems as the population in Sweden is ageing and living longer.

The British prime minister hosted a similar parley a year ago.

The prime ministers of Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway were also to attend the summit.