Current Affairs

The Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, will visit Helsinki on 8–11 October and meet Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen.

The Namibian Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Peya Mushelenga, will visit Helsinki on 2–5 October and meet Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will visit Copenhagen on 3 October. The aim of the visit is to promote the commercial and economic relations between Finland and Denmark and foreign investments in Finland. During his visit, Minister Tavio will meet Denmark’s public officials and key business representatives.

On Wednesday 2 October, Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will meet France’s new Delegate Minister for Foreign Trade and French Nationals Abroad Sophie Primas and the new Minister of State for Francophonie and International Partnerships, Thani Mohamed Soilihi, to discuss topical trade and development policy issues.

Finland will participate in a joint European Union table-top exercise the EU Integrated Resolve PACE 2024. The aim of the exercise is to improve the EU’s crisis response capacity.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will travel to Türkiye in the delegation of President of the Republic Alexander Stubb on 1–2 October.

Press release by Ministry of Transport and Communications and Ministry for Foreign Affairs: Finland has joined the US-led multilateral declaration on submarine cable security. The parties to the declaration agreed on common objectives and means for improving the security and resilience of submarine cables.

Since the seizure of power by the Taliban de facto authorities, the women and girls of Afghanistan have been subjected to the most severe systematic human rights violations.

Following Finland’s reform of the Act on Export Control of Dual-Use Items, the United States has added Finland to the list of IEC eligible destinations from 17 September 2024.

The September issue of Kauppapolitiikka explores the current state of the Finnish export sector and the challenges it is facing in the international market. Finland’s share of world trade is diminishing, which affects people’s standard of living and creates challenges for general government finances. Turning this trend around will require perseverance and wide-ranging measures.

The Finnish Government proposes a total of EUR 1.2 billion in appropriations for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for 2025. As part of general government adjustment measures, additional savings totalling EUR 115 million have been allocated to the administrative branch.

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen delivered the Nordic-Baltic speech at the 57th Session of the UN Human Rights Council on 23 September 2024.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Berlin on 24 September to discuss topical foreign policy questions.

On September 17, the European Union countries (Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) sharing the border with Russia, had their 3rd meeting on sanctions co-operation. In the meeting in Tallinn, the representatives of the Ministries for Foreign Affairs and Customs Agencies discussed effective implementation of sanctions and prevention of sanctions circumvention.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is consulting exporters on the draft decision on a national general export authorisation until 14 October 2024.