Progress made in Finland on pipeline approval-Merkel

OBERSCHLEISSHEIM, Germany, July 16 (Reuters) - Progress has been made with Finland on the approval process of the Russia-Germany subsea Nord Stream gas pipeline, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday.

But Merkel said at a news conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev the Nord Stream consortium was still waiting on Sweden.

The consortium aims to have the pipeline up and running in 2011, taking 55 billion cubic metres of Russian gas to Germany and other EU countries each year aross the Baltic seabed.

(Reporting by Oleg Shchedrov and Madeline Chambers, Writing by Sarah Marsh)