Current Affairs

Finland supports the second phase (2025–2027) of the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine (PFRU) with a total of EUR 4.5 million. There are nine countries channelling their support to Ukraine through the Partnership Fund.

Joint statement by the coastal states of the Baltic Sea and North Sea – Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom – following the fourth expert-level meeting in Stockholm 19–20 February 2025.

EU foreign ministers will convene in Brussels on 24 February. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

Following legislative amendments that entered into force on 17 February, wild-berry picking carried out by foreign nationals is treated as seasonal work. Companies must hire foreign berry pickers for a contractual employment relationship to enable them apply for an entry permit to Finland. In future, berry pickers will apply for a seasonal work visa for stays up to three months.

The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs will participate in the international Girls Takeover event run by Plan International, a children’s rights organisation. During the event, girls take over the roles of political, social and economic leaders. On 12 March, Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will step aside for the day to let Natasha Al-Zeilaa, an upper secondary school student from Vantaa, assume her post.

At the presidential session on 13 February, the President of the Republic appointed a non-resident Ambassador to Samoa.

The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs introduces the guidelines for sustainable meeting practices that it has updated in cooperation with WWF Finland. The principles outlined in these guidelines will be observed in all events of the OSCE Chairpersonship organised in Finland in 2025. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is committed to promoting sustainability in all events.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will attend the Munich Security Conference on 14–16 February. She will take part in a panel on hybrid warfare and speak at an event on new geopolitics.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen has invited the Nordic ministers of Foreign Affairs to this year’s first meeting of the Nordic (N5) cooperation on 11 February. Finland is holding the Presidency of the N5 cooperation on foreign and security policy in 2025.

Keynote Speech by Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen, Chairperson-in-office of the OSCE, Conference on Addressing Anti-Semitism in the OSCE Region, 10 February 2025

The annual OSCE Conference on addressing anti-Semitism opened today, February 10, in Helsinki. The conference is part of the OSCE's work on combating intolerance. In addition to anti-Semitism, the conference touches upon discrimination faced by Muslims, Christians and representatives of other religions.

During its membership of the UN Human Rights Council between 2022 and 2024, Finland defended universal human rights and the multilateral rules-based system. Finland’s key priorities were to ensure accountability and gender equality and to promote and defend the rights of women and girls, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and LGBTI persons.

The informal meeting of the EU ministers for development will take place on 10–11 February 2025 in Warsaw, Poland. Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will represent Finland at the meeting.

In a joint letter, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Sweden call on G7 states to take additional steps to reduce the revenues earned by Russia from the sale of its energy carriers.

Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kęstutis Budrys will visit Helsinki on 11 February and meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen.

On 6 February, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs granted an exemption for a deal on the shares held by sanctioned persons in Helsinki Halli Oy. The exemption was granted to Trevian Kasvu LP Ky. An authorisation from the National Enforcement Authority Finland is still needed for the deal.

The operations and management of the Team Finland network will be reformed in cooperation with business and industry, as outlined in the Finnish Government Programme. Business Finland’s foreign functions will be directly integrated into the structures of the Foreign Service by 1 January 2026.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio held a press conference on the reform of Team Finland's foreign functions on Wednesday 5 February 2025 at 15:30.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will attend the European Union Ambassadors' Conference and visit NATO Headquarters on 5 February.

Education, good governance, nature, equality and happiness are themes that Finland is known for worldwide, according to Finland Promotion Board’s publication How the World Views Finland. In 2024, especially Finland’s NATO membership and security policy brought international media coverage. Despite the challenging global situation, Finland’s country brand has remained largely positive, but differences between countries in attitudes towards Finland have increased. This is why it is increasingly important for Finland to be known for its strengths, the publication states.

Opening remarks by Elina Valtonen, Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, National Opening Event of Finland’s OSCE Chairpersonship, Finlandia Hall, 3 February, 2025

The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has published an information package on its website for those planning or considering travelling to Ukraine to serve as volunteer fighters and for their family and friends. The Ministry does not recommend or promote volunteering as a fighter. However, it assists Finnish citizens who are in Ukraine in accordance with the Consular Services Act whenever possible.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit London on 4 February and meet the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Rapporteur Elina Björklund submitted her report on reforming the Team Finland network’s foreign functions to Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio and Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman on 31 January 2025.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will attend a joint informal meeting of the EU’s competitiveness and trade ministers in Warsaw on 3–4 February 2025. The ministers will discuss ways in which industrial and trade policies can support the EU’s global competitiveness. The relations between the EU and the United States will also be on the meeting’s agenda. In addition, the ministers will discuss the integration of EU candidate countries into the single market as part of the Union’s value chains.

Uncertainty about the practical application of the EU’s sustainability regulations may lead companies to wait for further clarification. This is problematic because companies then fail to allocate resources where required to meet their obligations.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has sent out for comments a proposal for amending the Decree of the President of the Republic on the Locations of Finland’s Diplomatic Missions and the Provision of Consular Services in the Foreign Service, and the Annex thereto.

Slovenian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon will visit Finland on 30 January and meet Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Latvia on 28 January. She will speak at the meeting of the heads of Latvia’s diplomatic missions and meet Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Baiba Braže.

Finland’s county elections and municipal elections will be held simultaneously on Sunday 13 April 2025. The advance voting period abroad will be from 2 to 5 April 2025, but for practical reasons many advance polling stations will be open for a shorter period.

The Nordic-Baltic countries stand in solidarity with the Belarusian people who strive for a free, democratic, sovereign and independent Belarus. A future democratic Belarus has a place in the European family. Our countries will continue to support the tireless efforts of the Belarusian democratic forces led by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and independent Belarusian civil society both inside and outside Belarus.

Finland holds the Chairpersonship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2025. OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen has appointed Christoph Späti as her Special Representative for the South Caucasus.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will gain more wide-ranging expertise with the start of two new courses for careers at the Ministry in March 2025.

EU foreign ministers will convene in Brussels on 27 January. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

Assistant Secretary-General Kamal Kishore, the Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), will visit Finland from 27 to 28 January 2025.

The EEAS, Finland, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden denounce Russia’s continued and systematic attempts to manipulate and interfere in the information space of democratic societies.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Vienna on 23 January. She will present the programme for Finland’s OSCE Chairpersonship to the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has representatives from the organization’s 57 participating States and 11 Partners for Co-operation.

A Joint Readout by the United States, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom following recent engagements.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will open a call for applications for programme-based support available for Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs). In this application round, Finnish CSOs may apply for discretionary government grants for development cooperation programmes and humanitarian assistance included in the programmes for the period 2026–2029. Applications will be accepted from 20 January to 28 February 2025.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the missions abroad provided consular services to approximately 205,000 customers last year. Over the course of the year, the Ministry’s 24/7 service was contacted around 6,800 times in total.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will travel to the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which will take place in Davos, Switzerland, on 20–24 January. President of the Republic Alexander Stubb will also attend the WEF.

The new Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Feridun Sinirlioğlu, will visit Helsinki on 16 January at the invitation of Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen, who is currently OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit The Hague on 15 January and speak at a conference on sanctions compliance and enforcement hosted by the Netherlands. She will also have discussions with the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Caspar Veldkamp and representatives of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will visit Sweden on 15–17 January. He will be accompanied by a large delegation of Finnish businesses.

On 8 January, Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen visited Kyiv, Ukraine, where she met President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha, and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk. This was Minister Valtonen's first visit to a country as Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Finland chairs the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) in 2025.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Moldova on 9 January in her role as Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Joint statement by the Nordic Baltic Eight (NB8) countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden.