Current Affairs

Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio appointed a new Team Finland Executive Group on 16 May 2025.

The Baltic Sea NATO allies and the European Union have agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding to protect critical undersea infrastructure.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has adopted a development policy investment strategy for 2025–2027. The strategy guides the use of the appropriation allocated to development policy loans and investments in accordance with the Government Report on International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation. The general terms and conditions for development policy loans and investments are published concurrently with the strategy.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will attend the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) in Vihula, Estonia, on 15–16 May.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will attend a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in its trade configuration in Brussels on 15 May 2025. The Council will exchange views on the EU’s trade relations with the United States and economic security. The ministers will also discuss the EU’s ongoing trade negotiations.

In the Foreign Ministry's Sanctions e-Service at palvelu.um.fi you can ask about sanctions, submit an application for an authorization, report on the implementation of sanctions and report on the circumvention of sanctions. The service makes it easier for companies, authorities and citizens to approach the Sanctions Unit with sanctions matters. The European Commission has also launched a Sanctions Helpdesk for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will attend an informal meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Antalya in Türkiye on 14–15 May.

New legislation that enters into force on 20 May 2025 will implement the Sanctions Criminalisation Directive of the European Union in Finland. The purpose of the Directive is to ensure that offences against sanctions are punishable in all EU Member States and that the related national penal provisions meet a common minimum level.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will make an export promotion visit to Singapore and Malaysia on 19–23 May. The Minister will be accompanied by a delegation of some 30 companies.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will attend the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin on 13–14 May.

The new Ministry for Foreign Affairs Decree on Fees for Services Produced by the Foreign Service in 2025 entered into force on 1 January 2025. With the Decree's entry into force, export control services, such as the processing of various authorisations, were made chargeable.

The EU foreign ministers convened for an informal meeting hosted by High Representative Kaja Kallas and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha in Lviv, Ukraine, on 9 May. A meeting on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine was also held in connection with the foreign ministers’ meeting. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen represented Finland at the meeting in Lviv.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs requests companies and interest groups to provide their views on the products included in the EU's list of trade countermeasures and information on trade with the United States. The Ministry expects responses from businesses by 2 June.

During 2025, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Artists at Risk (AR) and the City of Helsinki will implement a pilot programme to provide temporary support and protection to human rights defenders in Finland. The programme will support a three-month temporary stay relocation in Finland.

The EU Foreign Affairs Ministers will convene at an informal meeting (Gymnich) in Warsaw, Poland on 7–8 May. Poland holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU during the first half of this year, and Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski will host the meeting together with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen, Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne and Director General of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom Jarkko Saarimäki will meet Secretary-General of International Telecommunications Union Doreen Bogdan-Martin in Helsinki on 6 May 2025.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Berlin on 5 May to participate in discussions on topical foreign and security policy matters.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has appointed Markus Hippi as Press Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in London from 1 June 2025 to 31 July 2028. Hippi has served as Press Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in London since 11 July 2023.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise export control training for companies exporting dual-use items on Friday 9 May 2025. Registration will be open until 2 May.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will visit Morocco with a business delegation on 28–30 April 2025.

A large group of international experts attended a conference held in Helsinki on 23 April 2025 focusing on the protection of critical underwater infrastructure and the threats posed to it by international maritime transport. Co-operation between different authorities is needed to address these wide-ranging threats.

On 25 April 2025, President Alexander Stubb approved an amendment to the Decree of the President of the Republic on the Locations of Finland’s Diplomatic Missions. The amendment will establish Finland’s Consulate General in Houston, Texas, in the United States as of 1 July 2025.

At the presidential session on 25 April, the President of the Republic appointed the following persons to serve as heads of missions: Okko-Pekka Salmimies, Bern; Pekka Voutilainen, Hanoi; Jukka Siukosaari, Copenhagen; Riina-Riikka Heikka, Nairobi; Olli Kantanen, Stockholm; Eevamari Laaksonen, Pristina; Minna Laajava, Los Angeles.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will attend the NB8 meeting bringing together Nordic and Baltic foreign ministers in Bornholm, Denmark, on 28–29 April. Ministers from Poland, France and Germany will also participate in the meeting.

On Thursday 24 April, the Government appointed Niina Pesonen to serve as Director General for Human Resources of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ programme features a discussion on how to involve young people in peace negotiations. The discussion will take place on the World Village Festival’s Speaker’s Stage at Tiivistämö on 24 May at 13.15. Participants are Adina Nivukoski, Finland's Youth Delegate to the UN, and Senior Specialist Laura Hendry from the Foreign Ministry’s Centre for Peace Mediation.

If you are a citizen of a non-EU country and are not a citizen of a EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, you will need a residence permit for studies. Apply for a residence permit in the Enter Finland online service first and then book an appointment for identification. It is advisable to book the appointment as soon as possible, as the missions may be busy during the summer months.

The Algerian Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Community Abroad and African Affairs, Ahmed Attaf, will visit Helsinki on 24 April and meet Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen.

Withdrawal from of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, known as the Ottawa Convention, requires a government proposal. Comments on the draft proposal may be given until 16 May 2025.

The official development assistance (ODA) declined in 2024 both in Finland and globally. Ukraine, which is heavily affected by Russia’s war of aggression, is the largest recipient of Finland’s ODA for the third consecutive year.

EU foreign ministers will convene in Luxembourg on 14 April. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

According to preliminary data, a total of 5,291 votes were cast in advance in the 2025 county elections and 8,310 votes in the municipal elections at Finnish missions abroad. In the dual elections, a total of 180 votes were cast on board Finnish vessels. In the 2022 county elections, 2,923 advance votes were cast, and about a hundred crew members cast their vote on board ships. In the 2021 municipal elections, 2,693 advance votes were cast, and over a hundred crew members voted on board ships.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is inviting interested candidates to apply for the position of a conciliator and an arbitrator at the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) by 30 April 2025.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Washington DC on 10 April 2025. She will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Finland is emphasising climate security and the importance of sustainable development in international diplomacy during its Chairpersonship of the OSCE.

A Finnish-Ukrainian cooperation project will improve the transparency and digitalisation of the Ukrainian tax administration and its capacity to manage and implement reforms. The project will also support the fight against corruption and Ukraine's EU accession.

Last autumn, the Nordic Council called on the governments in the region to update the Helsinki Treaty, which governs Nordic cooperation, by adding new areas of cooperation and examining the contractual status of Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will attend an extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, in its trade configuration, in Luxembourg on 7 April 2025. The meeting will focus on the EU’s trade relations with the United States and China.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will meet Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard in Stockholm on 8 April.

Finland provides humanitarian assistance to Myanmar. The damage caused by the recent severe earthquake in Myanmar exacerbates the already challenging humanitarian situation.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise export control training for companies exporting dual-use items on Friday 9 May 2025.

On 3 April 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued its decision in a case brought against Finland on the basis of Article 6 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the decision, the ECtHR, unanimously, declared the application inadmissible.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will attend a meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Brussels on 3–4 April.

Opening Statement, LDC Future Forum 1 April 2025, Lusaka, Zambia Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio

Finland holds the Chairpersonship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2025. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen has appointed Prof. Dr Wolfgang Palaver as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Combating Discrimination.

Finland, Zambia and the United Nations will organise the Least Developed Countries Future Forum (LDC Future Forum) in Lusaka on 1–3 April. The Forum will seek innovative solutions to enhance the resilience of LDCs. The Finnish delegation will be led by Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio. In addition to attending the Forum, Minister Tavio will have several bilateral meetings, including with the President of Zambia, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, and counterpart ministers.

Finland has been a forerunner in conducting national evaluations of sustainable development. The new second edition of a guidebook compiles experiences from various countries and provides practical lessons for planning and implementing country-led evaluations of sustainable development.

The EU sanctions list includes members of the Belarusian Central Electoral Commission, representatives of the Belarusian judiciary and individuals or entities that are considered to have committed serious human rights violations and undermined democracy in Belarus. The EU Member States approved the additional sanctions on 27 March 2025.

After unusual activity was noticed in the Foreign Service's remote access service, the initial investigation confirmed a suspected hacking incident. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has blocked the use of the service and made a request for an investigation to the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.

The first issue of the Kauppapolitiikka magazine in 2025 delves deep into current events in international trade and politics. Why is the world economy buzzing, and who wins most when geopolitics change?