9 December 2013, Rome/Finland - Juha Ojala, Director General at the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, has nominated Santa Claus as the Ambassador for European Forests. European Forest Week opens today in Rovaniemi, Finland, which is also home to the main post office for Mr Claus. As European ministers, legislators and experts gather to discuss the state of Europe’s forests, Mr Claus has announced that he has accepted the role of official ambassador for European Forests. Mr Claus receives hundreds of thousands of paper letters per year and relies heavily on forest products for his holiday deliveries. As this high-level conference convenes to discuss how well Europe is managing its forests, as well as how those forests can help European nations move further towards the goal of greening their economies, Mr Claus has been making his rounds in order to illustrate the importance of this industry.