Current Affairs

At the 2020 Afghanistan Conference in November Afghanistan and the international community committed to joint development objectives for 2021-2024 and the international partners announced pledges worth US$ 3.3 billion for this year alone. Hard work now lies ahead, in making the commitments count for the benefit of the Afghan people. Ahead of the Conference, Afghan artist group Art Lords together with Afghans in five provinces painted murals on blast walls - that now serve as reminders of the hopes of the people.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has today issued two decisions concerning Finland by which it has removed these matters from its list of cases.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will meet Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anže Logar in Helsinki on Thursday 14 January.

The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom has decided to continue to suspend passenger flights from the UK to Finland until 18 January 2021. Direct passenger flights from Ireland and South Africa to Finland will also be suspended from 11 to 18 January 2021. Due to the decision, many travellers find that returning to Finland is even more difficult than before or may be prevented altogether.

Finland assumed its one-year Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers on 1 January 2021. The main task of the Finnish Presidency will be to advance Our Vision 2030, adopted by the Nordic Prime Ministers, according to which the Nordic region will be the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. The Vision’s focal points are a green Nordic region, a competitive Nordic region and a socially sustainable Nordic region.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland is looking for new ideas for Public Sector Investment Facility Projects on yearly rounds of concept paper appraisals. Please send your application by the end 5 March 2021 (Finnish time) to: PIF@formin.fi.

The purpose of the free trade agreement is to increase trade between the countries of Africa and to diversify production.

The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom has decided to suspend air passenger flights from the UK to Finland for two weeks from 21 December 2020 until 4 January 2021. Due to the decision, many travellers’ return to Finland will be difficult or prevented altogether.

Much has been written and said about how exceptional the year 2020 turned out to be. The Covid-19 crisis affected the whole world in a way that stopped us all for a moment.

The transition period for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union will end at the turn of the year. Starting on 1 January 2021, dual-use exports from Finland and other EU Member States to the UK will be subject to an export authorisation.

All Finnish missions abroad responsible for entry matters accept visa applications submitted by representatives of defined special groups. Representatives of such special groups include, for example, persons applying for a visa on the basis of family ties or an established relationship. The conditions for issuing a visa under the Schengen Visa Code must also be met.

Finland’s missions have operated throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Restrictions by local authorities and the disease situation in each country have placed restrictions on operations and customer service and have required significant additional measures to ensure the health security of customer service. It has been possible to contact missions’ customer service normally by email or telephone.

Today, on Sunday 20 December 2020, Finland repatriated six Finnish children and two adult mothers from north-east Syria. The persons are now in the care of competent Finnish authorities.

The Foreign Ministry’s Twitter breakfast meeting in December focused on Finns’ notions about Africa. According to the participants, the public discussion on Africa in Finland continues to focus on dire conditions and conflicts. The discussion highlighted African countries’ diversity, rich culture, active youth, and growing economic potential and innovations.

Finland provided a historic total of EUR 115 million in humanitarian aid in 2020. Humanitarian aid is one of the most concrete ways of responding to crises and disasters. More than 200 million people across the globe need humanitarian aid due to conflicts, natural disasters and the coronavirus pandemic.

On 16 December, Finnish and Russian Foreign Ministers Pekka Haavisto and Sergei Lavrov exchanged letters of congratulation on 100 years of diplomatic relations between their countries. Diplomatic relations between Finland and Russia were established 100 years ago on New Year’s Eve, 31 December 1920.

This autumn, the drafting of Finland’s Africa Strategy brought together a large group of people through common digital platforms. The group included representatives of research, education and training, ministries, businesses and civil society and diaspora organisations.

In the first half of the 20th century, when the world was not open to everyone, a career in diplomacy was thought to be grand and glorious. After the Second World War times had changed, and people around the world started to question the point in considering diplomacy as a career for the chosen few. Such changes in global contexts as the growing number of states and international organisations together with the development of faster means of communication meant that diplomacy had to be redefined. The Foreign Ministry’s Training Course for Newly Recruited Diplomats, Kavaku in short, turned 50 in autumn 2020.