Current Affairs

On Monday 15 February, Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will visit St Petersburg and have a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

A new evaluation of Finland’s cooperation with partner countries to strengthen their economies, create jobs and improve livelihoods shows that Finland’s work has yielded good results in the energy sector, taxation, innovation and the economic empowerment of women.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs urges to avoid all travel to the Brazil, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom in accordance with the recommendation of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. For all other countries, the Foreign Ministry’s general travel advice due to the COVID-19 pandemic is to avoid all but essential travel.

Together with its Member States, the European Union is the world's largest donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA). In this third article in our series on EU development cooperation, Olai Voionmaa, Head of the Political, Press and Information Section at the EU delegation to Niger, tells us about the EU’s activities in Niger.

Finland strengthens its support for education in developing countries as a donor of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). At the virtual Educa goes digital event on Friday 29 January, Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari informed that Finland will allocate EUR 25 million to GPE’s next replenishment for 2021-2025.

At the presidential session on Friday 29 January, the President of the Republic decided to appoint new Ambassadors to Stockholm and Beijing and a new Consul General to Los Angeles.

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will participate in a panel discussion on sustainable investments, organised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Friday 29 January. The annual WEF “Davos Agenda” is organised virtually from 25 to 29 January.

Finland has granted a million euros to UN Women for its peacebuilding activities in Syria. The project, which is entitled Supporting Syrian Women’s Engagement in the Syrian Political Process: Building a Constituency for Peace, aims to support women’s engagement in and influence on political processes in Syria. The project runs from October 2020 until December 2021.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will meet Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Eva-Maria Liimets in Helsinki on 29 January.

The municipal elections will be held on Sunday 18 April 2021. Advance voting will be possible abroad from 7 to 10 April 2021. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is responsible for the organisation of advance voting abroad.

High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has mandated Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto to visit Ethiopia and its neighbouring regions as the EU representative. Minister for Foreign Affairs Haavisto will travel to the Horn of Africa within the next few weeks. During the visit he will discuss the situation in Ethiopia and its neighbouring regions and ways how the international community could provide support in finding peaceful solutions. The topics to be discussed also include the humanitarian situation in the National Regional State of Tigray in Ethiopia. The European External Action Service and Finland will communicate on the matter in more detail as the visit approaches.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is participating in the international programme and will be present among the virtual exhibitors at the Educa goes digital event on 29–30 January. At the event, on Friday, Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will take part in a panel discussion on the topic of the global learning crisis.

The coronavirus crisis has hit companies in developing countries hard. Finland has increased its guarantees to development finance institution Finnfund, which will strengthen the targeting of its investments to the companies of the poorest countries as well as promote economic and social development.

Tuesday 26 January 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Finland and Latvia. Finland was the first Nordic country to recognise de jure Latvia’s independence on 26 January 1921. A multitude of special events will take place in Finland and in Latvia throughout this year to commemorate the occasion.

Nordic Joint Statement Issued by Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland on the occasion of Arria formula meeting in United Nation Security Council on Media Freedom in Belarus 22 January 2020

The EU Foreign Affairs Council will hold its first meeting of the year in Brussels on Monday 25 January. Finland will be represented by Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto. Climate and energy diplomacy of the EU and discussions with the Foreign Minister of Japan will be the main topics of the meeting. At lunch, the ministers will discuss cooperation between the EU and the United Kingdom in foreign and security policy. The arrest of the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny will also be raised.

Finland must pay stronger and more consistent attention to biodiversity in its development policy and international advocacy work. In addition, developing countries should be supported in their efforts to implement biodiversity agreements. The view is expressed by the Development Policy Committee’s expert group, whose analysis on safeguarding biodiversity was published on Friday 22 January.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs urges to avoid all travel to the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa in accordance with the recommendation of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. For all other countries, the Foreign Ministry’s general travel advice due to the COVID-19 pandemic is to avoid all but essential travel.

The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom has decided that the suspension of direct passenger flights from the UK, Ireland and South Africa to Finland be continued until 25 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 will grant EUR 5 million to the International Trade Centre (ITC) in 2021–2022 to support women’s and young people’s business activities in developing countries. The agreement was signed on 18 January 2021 in Geneva.