Current Affairs

EU foreign ministers will convene in Brussels on 11 December. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will make his first visit to Stockholm, Sweden on 11 December.

Finland is currently preparing for its chairpersonship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2025. As part of the preparations, Finland will reinstate the OSCE delegation, which operates in conjunction with the Embassy of Finland in Vienna, as Permanent Representation as of 1 January 2024.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In honour of the anniversary, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise, in cooperation with several partners, a national celebration ‘UN Declaration on Human Rights: 75 years of support to everyday human rights actions’ at Helsinki Music Centre on 8 December.

The December’s theme of the Kauppapolitiikka trade policy magazine is NATO, the opportunities it offers and Finland’s move to a new era.

Finland’s delegation at the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 has 14 negotiators, four from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Foreign Ministry’s negotiating team is headed by Anna Merrifield, Director of the Unit for Climate and Environmental Diplomacy.

Matilda af Hällström will serve as Special Adviser to Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen from 4 December 2023 to 12 January 2024. She will deputise for Special Adviser Elisa Tarkiainen, who is on leave of absence.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise an induction course into global development issues for journalists in January–February 2024. Altogether 38 journalists applied for and 10 were selected to the Development Academy now organised for the twelfth time.

Inflation, disruptions of raw material supply, extreme weather events and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine aggravate the food security situation in East Africa. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland will invest in the ARCAFIM programme to boost the agricultural productivity in the region and improve food security. The programme will also create new jobs and improve the living conditions of up to 1.5 million people. Private sector financing will account for half of the programme’s funding.

Finland and Italy will put forward joint initiatives to promote a consistent approach on the external dimension of migration policies and countering migration-related malign influence.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Business Finland will co-host a side event to the Finnish start-up and technology event Slush to offer companies interested in the possibilities of development financing the chance to meet with venture capital investors and UN agencies. One of the development finance institutions present is the ADB Ventures fund of the Asian Development Bank. The Foreign Ministry will announce its investment of EUR 20 million in the fund.

An internal working group of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, appointed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen, has completed its final report on a reform of the Foreign Service. The group presented its report to the Minister on 1 December 2023.

Effective implementation of sanctions requires an understanding of sanctions and their application. In order to expand Finns’ knowledge of sanctions, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has published an online course on sanctions open to all. The course covers not only the basic aspects of sanctions that are repeated across all sanctions systems, but also the special features of the sanctions against Russia.

The Finnish Government submitted a proposal on Finland’s accession to NATO SOFA and the Paris Protocol to Parliament on 30 November. In addition to the acts bringing into force the treaties, the proposal contains amendments to nine related acts. The Government’s assessment is that acceptance by Parliament will require a two-thirds majority decision.

Over the past decade, Finland has improved its ranking in the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index study from 18th to 15th place. The study of people’s images of 60 countries shows that Finland is on the rise, especially as a country to live in or visit.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will visit Dubai in the United Arab Emirates 2–4 December. Minister Tavio will attend events organised as part of the UN Climate Change Conference and meet ministers from other countries and representatives of businesses and international organisations.

James Scriven, Chief Executive Officer of IDB Invest, which is a member of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, visited Finland on 28–29 November. Scriven met with Finnish businesses, which had an opportunity to showcase their expertise. IDB Invest aims to leverage private funding to Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will attend the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), held in Skopje, North Macedonia, on 29–30 November. North Macedonia holds the OSCE Chairmanship in 2023.

Solutions developed by Finnish companies are used to mitigate climate change around the world and to help locals adapt to its effects. Companies’ contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is becoming a stronger element of Finland’s development cooperation. However, local development needs are still the starting point for all work.

The parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change will convene for the COP28 Climate Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 30 November–12 December. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo will represent Finland at the high-level segment of the Conference on 1–2 December. During the ministerial week between 8 and 12 December, Finland’s delegation will be led by Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen.