Her Excellency Tarja Halonen was elected Finland's first female Head of State in 2000 and re-elected in 2006. She joined the Social Democratic Party in 1971 and was elected to Parliament in 1979. She served in three cabinets, as Minister of Social Affairs and Health, of Justice, and for Foreign Affairs. During her presidency, President Halonen chaired the ILO World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization and served on the Panel of Eminent Persons of the UN Conference on Trade and Development and on the board of the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights. She co-chaired the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 together with former President Sam Nujoma of Namibia.

Our Aspirations Must Become Achievements: From the Millennium Summit to 2015

In March 2000, then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan published his report, 'We the Peoples': The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century, listing the major challenges in the world.