Current Affairs

This is the last time during its membership period 2022–2024 that Finland will participate as a Member in the regular session of the UN Human Rights Council. In accordance with established practice, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs invited the representatives of the civil society to exchange views on Finland’s objectives and priorities for the upcoming session. The Human Rights Council (HRC) is the UN’s most important intergovernmental body promoting and protecting human rights. The HRC’s 57th session started on 9 September and ends on 11 October.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, will visit Finland on 19 September and discuss the current humanitarian and refugee situation with Finland’s political leadership.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Vienna on 19 September. She will outline the preliminary priorities of the incoming Finnish OSCE Chairpersonship to the organisation’s Permanent Council, which has representatives from the 57 participating States and 11 Partners of Cooperation.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has sent out for comments a proposal for a new Decree of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Fees for Services Produced by the Foreign Service in 2025. It is proposed that several of the Foreign Ministry's services which are currently provided free of charge should be made chargeable.

The high-level meetings of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 79) will start in New York on 24 September. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will attend ministerial events in New York and have bilateral meetings with their counterparts and with representatives of the UN.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will visit Stockholm on 17–18 September to meet his Nordic colleagues and business representatives.

The new Act on the Export Control of Dual-Use Items entered into force on 15 September 2024. The Decree on the Advisory Board on Export Control issued under the Act entered into force at the same time. The reform includes a national control list of items that need an authorisation for export outside the European Union.

At the presidential session on 13 September, the President of the Republic appointed four new non-resident Ambassadors.

Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen met Sweden´s Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard in Helsinki on 13 September. The press conference was broadcast live on Friday 13.9 at 14.45.

Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard will visit Finland on 13 September at the invitation of Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is preparing a call for proposals for programme-based support, which will be open to Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs) in January 2025. In this application round, Finnish CSOs can apply for discretionary government grants for development cooperation programmes and, where applicable, for humanitarian assistance included in the programmes for the period 2026–2029. The grant is awarded from the development cooperation appropriations for Finnish CSOs’ development cooperation and humanitarian assistance.

Minister Anders Adlercreutz, who is responsible for Nordic cooperation, will attend a virtual meeting of the ministers for Nordic cooperation on Wednesday 11 September.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will hold its 57th session from 9 September to 11 October in Geneva, Switzerland.

Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen met Estonia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna in Helsinki on 6 September.

Nuclear weapons have been at the core of international relations ever since they were developed. Nuclear-weapons states and their allies regard nuclear weapons as the cornerstone of security and means to stabilise international relations. At the same time, nuclear weapons pose a threat to the existence of humankind.

Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna will visit Helsinki on 6 September and meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Albania, Serbia and Kosovo on 4–5 September. The aim of the visit is to strengthen political and commercial relations with Finland’s partners in the Western Balkans. Finland supports the aspirations of the region’s countries for EU membership.

Matilda af Hällström will serve as Special Adviser to Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen starting from 2 September 2024. She was the acting Special Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 4 December 2023 to 12 January 2024.

At the presidential session on 30 August, the President of the Republic appointed a new non-resident Ambassador to Albania.

The Government issued a decree on an advisory board on export control on 29 August. The decree was issued under the Act on the Control of Exports of Dual-Use Goods. The new act on the export of dual-use items enters into force on 15 September 2024.

Minister Anders Adlercreutz: "For us, it is important to strengthen the Nordic countries’ resilience to crisis and to promote comprehensive and wide-ranging preparedness for various crises and hybrid threats."

The EU foreign ministers will convene for an informal meeting in Brussels on 29 August. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Stockholm on 26 August to address the meeting of Swedish ambassadors and give a speech at the World Water Week.

As Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden deeply regret Israel’s decision to no longer facilitate Norway’s representation to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and revoke the diplomatic status for Norwegian diplomats dealing with the PA.

At its session on 22 August, the Government appointed a Deputy Director General to the Department for Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

In honour of Ukrainian Independence Day on Saturday 24 August, the Government will fly the Ukrainian flag at Senate Square in front of the Government Palace and at Martti Ahtisaari Square in the courtyard of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ main building Merikasarmi, which will also be illuminated in blue and yellow in the evening.

Heads of Finland’s missions abroad and foreign policy leaders will meet again at the Annual Meeting of Heads of Mission in Helsinki on 26–28 August. Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Tobias Billström has been invited as guest speaker to the meeting.

The project is funded by Finland through the Green Recovery Programme for Ukraine and implemented by the Nordic Green Bank Nefco. This marks Finland’s first investment in Ukraine through Nefco since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion and Nefco’s first involvement in a nearly-zero energy building (NZEB) project in Ukraine.

The new act on the export of dual-use items enters into force on 15 September 2024. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs advises businesses to familiarise themselves with and prepare for the legislative amendment. The amendment includes a national control list of items that need an authorisation for export outside the European Union.

At its session on 15 August, the Government appointed a new Director General to the Department for Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

EU-based exporters are required to prohibit in their contracts re-exportation to Belarus of goods covered by specific annexes to the Council regulation concerning EU sanctions against Belarus.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs proposes appropriations of EUR 1.202 billion for its administrative branch for 2025. As part of general government adjustment measures, additional savings totalling EUR 116 million have been allocated to the administrative branch.

The aim of the visit is to strengthen political and commercial relations with key Western African countries.

The reform of the Foreign Service of Finland took a step forward on 1 August, when the reorganisation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the updated rules of procedure took effect. The purpose of the organisational reform is to lay a suitable foundation for the Ministry’s work in the current international situation and in terms of Finland’s foreign policy change. At the same time, cooperation across organisational boundaries has become even more important.

In its session on 8 August, the Government appointed a Director General and a Deputy Director General to the Department for Development Policy and an Inspector-General of the Foreign Service to the Unit for Internal Audit. The Government also appointed a Director General of Administrative Services.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen and the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita met in Helsinki on Tuesday 6 August. The Ministers discussed a number of topical issues during the visit.

The European Union responds to the deterioration of the internal situation in Belarus by imposing new sanctions against individuals responsible for serious human rights violations or for undermining democracy or the rule of law. The EU Member States approved the additional sanctions on 26 July 2024.

Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will meet the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, in Helsinki on 6 August.

In its session on 1 August, the Government appointed Deputy Directors General to the Department for Euro-Atlantic Affairs and the Department for International Trade and a Director to the Unit for EU Affairs.

The public consultation concerning a government decree ended on 15 July 2024. The comments are available in the Gateway to Information on Government Projects.

EU foreign affairs ministers will convene in Brussels on 22 July. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

On 16 July, the President of the Republic approved the bill for the Act on Temporary Measures to Combat Instrumentalised Migration. The aim of the act is to improve border security and ensure that Finland has effective means at its disposal to combat instrumentalised migration, which is being used to put pressure on Finland. The aim is also to prepare for more serious instances of instrumentalised migration.

The Government approved the proposal for the Report on International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation on 11 July 2024. The report complements the Report on Foreign and Security Policy with more detailed trade and development policy measures.

The applicant complained under Article 8 taken alone, and in conjunction with Article 13 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, that involuntary administration of medication had violated her right to respect for her private life, and that she had not had an effective domestic remedy in that regard.

Finland is participating in the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development in New York on 8–17 July. The Forum assesses annually what progress has been made in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in different countries.

At the presidential session on 5 July, the President of the Republic appointed a new ambassador.