Chairman's letter

March 24, 2009

Dear Shareholder,

I am pleased to invite you to the Company’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held on Tuesday May 19, 2009.

The principal meeting place for the AGM will be in The Hague, with an audio-visual link to a satellite meeting place in London. As last year, while the Directors will be located in The Hague, shareholders located in London will be able to participate fully in the meeting via an audio-visual link. Shareholders in each location will be able to see and hear the other location by way of large screens located on stage, and ask questions at designated question points. Shareholders in both The Hague and London will also be able to vote simultaneously on each of the resolutions, and on any other matter which may properly come before the meeting, using electronic handsets. Please see the details of the arrangements for the meeting locations in The Hague and London.

The meeting will be conducted in English although there will be Dutch translation facilities available at each venue.

BUSINESS OF THE MEETING
The business to be conducted at the meeting is set out in this Notice with explanatory notes concerning each of the resolutions. The business is of a routine nature for a listed company and your Board recommends that you vote in favour of each of the resolutions.

DIRECTORS
I would like in particular to bring to your attention Resolutions 3 to 9, which relate to the appointment and re-appointment of Directors.

On March 12, 2009 we were pleased to announce the appointment of Simon Henry as Chief Financial Officer in succession to Peter Voser and Resolution 3 relates to the proposal to appoint him as a Director of the Company with effect from May 20, 2009. We had previously announced in October 2008 that Peter Voser would succeed Jeroen van der Veer as Chief Executive with effect from July 1, 2009. Subject to his re-appointment at the AGM, Jeroen van der Veer will serve as a Non-executive Director of the Company following his retirement as Chief Executive on June 30, 2009.

We were also pleased to announce in December of last year the appointment of Hans Wijers as a Non-executive Director with effect from January 1, 2009 and Resolution 9 deals with his re-appointment by shareholders in accordance with the Company’s Articles of Association.

I believe that each of the appointments and re-appointments proposed in Resolutions 3 to 9 is in the best interests of the Company. Please see the biographical details of each Director. I hope you will vote in support of these resolutions.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Nina Henderson and Rob Routs, both of whom stood down as Directors with effect from December 31, 2008, and Maarten van den Bergh who will stand down at the close of business of the AGM, for their long and distinguished service to the Company.

QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
The Annual General Meeting provides an opportunity for you to ask questions about the business set out in this Notice and to raise other matters about the business of the Company. As Chairman of the Meeting, I will endeavour to ensure that discussions are kept relevant and that as many shareholders as possible have the opportunity to speak.

VOTING
All resolutions for consideration at the meeting will be decided on a poll rather than a show of hands. This means that a shareholder has one vote for every share held. Even if you are not able to come to the meeting, I would urge you to vote by following the guidance notes.

Yours faithfully,

Jorma Ollila
CHAIRMAN