Current Affairs

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.

Finland takes over the OSCE Chairpersonship with a focus on upholding OSCE principles, supporting Ukraine, and strengthening the Organization’s resilience in order to address complex security challenges.

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

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland wishes everybody a joyous holiday season and a happy and peaceful New Year 2025!

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted EUR 10 million for the human rights work of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) for 2025–2026. The funding promotes Finland’s foreign and security policy and development policy objectives.

Finland is supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s war of aggression in many ways. A new form of development aid has been developed to fund public investments in Ukraine carried out by Finnish businesses: the Finland-Ukraine Investment Facility (FUIF). The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is requesting that Finnish businesses submit concepts for projects to be funded.

The new decree of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on fees charged for services provided by the Finnish Foreign Service in 2025 enters into force on 1 January 2025. Several services that are now provided free of charge will become subject to a fee from 1 January 2025.

At the presidential session on 19 December, the President of the Republic appointed two new non-resident Ambassadors.

Finland is preparing a country pavilion for the next UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025. The Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs support the preparation of the pavilion in cooperation with companies, municipalities, universities and non-governmental organisations.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has awarded EUR 2 million in general grants to Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs) linked with the UN for their basic operations and for their development communications and globalisation education in 2025–2027. Grants were awarded to five CSOs.

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) serves as the primary multi-stakeholder forum for international digital policy and internet governance. Finland, alongside the Netherlands and Germany, has reaffirmed its commitment to the IGF with a combined contribution of approximately 550,000 Euros in 2024.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is continuing to strengthen the network of Finnish missions abroad by opening a third Consulate General in the United States. The new Consulate General will be located in Houston, Texas.

The terms and conditions of the Finnpartnership business partnership program will change at the beginning of 2025. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Finnfund signed an agreement in December 2024 to implement the Finnpartnership program's option period. During the option period covering 2025–2027, proven activities and practices from the previous program period will continue, with the addition of innovation financing.

Finland's membership of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) comes to an end at the turn of the year. The three-year term from 2022 to 2024 coincided with a turning point in global politics, which was reflected in both the HRC agenda and Finland's priorities. For Finland, systematically defending the HRC's global mandate to promote and protect human rights has been a prime concern. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs invited civil society organisations to discuss the outcomes of Finland's membership, lessons learned, and Finland's future actions as an HRC observer.

On 17 December 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a judgement on a case concerning freedom of association. The ECtHR unanimously held that there had been no violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECtHR declared the complaint under Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the Convention inadmissible.

In connection with the JEF Leaders’ Summit in Tallinn on 16 December, a group of coastal states around the Baltic Sea and the North Sea announced that they will begin regularly inspecting the insurance certificates of oil tankers used by Russia. Inspections will be carried along the route used by the shadow fleet through the English Channel, the Danish Straits and the Gulf of Finland. In addition, further sanctions will be imposed against oil tankers belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet.

In response to Russia’s continuing war of aggression and attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine, the EU’s 15th sanctions package targets individuals and entities that exert military, political or economic influence in Russia. The sanctions are also intended to intervene in the operation of the shadow fleet. The EU warns businesses of the deteriorating business environment in Russia and calls on them to consider winding down businesses in Russia and not to start new businesses there. The EU will make its first listings in the new sanctions framework, the ‘hybrid sanctions regime’, established in response to Russia’s destabilising actions abroad. The listings will include individuals who have contributed to Russia’s destabilising policy in Member States or third countries.

The sanctions list includes representatives of the Belarusian judiciary, leaders of prisons 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 16 December.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will continue payments of the discretionary government grant to the International Disability Alliance (IDA) after having investigated whether suspected misuse also concerned a project funded by Finland. However, the Ministry will recover EUR 6,506 before payments continue. IDA strengthens the organisation's governance and is committed to monitoring and reporting on further reform measures.

EU foreign ministers will convene in Brussels on 16 December. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

The OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) published a peer review of Finland's development cooperation and policy on Friday 13 December 2024. The peer reviewers were Austria and Czechia. For the first time, a civil society representative, the umbrella organisation for Finnish civil society organisations, FINGO, took part in the review as an observer. The DAC reviews its members' development cooperation and policy every six to seven years.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Public Sector Investment Facility (PIF) is one of Finland’s development policy instruments for financing investments in developing countries. PIF provides financial support to such public sector projects in developing countries that are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and that make use of Finnish technology and expertise.

The new decree of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on fees charged for services provided by the Finnish Foreign Service in 2025 enters into force on 1 January 2025. Several services that are now provided free of charge will become subject to a fee as of 1 January 2025.

On 12 December, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs published the second part of Finland’s national plan for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Finland will provide support including development cooperation, humanitarian assistance and material assistance. Rebuilding Ukraine will take several years and require extensive international support and participation. Finland is strongly involved in this work.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen’s speech was delivered by Ambassador Jouni Laaksonen.

The Team Finland reform proceeds. After the transitional period, the foreign operations of Business Finland will be incorporated into the Foreign Service. The appropriation of Business Finland’s foreign network will be transferred to the administrative branch of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on 1 January 2025. The service agreement ensures that the export promotion services will continue without interruption.

The decisions on humanitarian assistance made by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in the latter part of 2024 prioritise Ukraine, major refugee crises in Africa, the humanitarian situation in the Middle East and support for school meals. The amount of humanitarian assistance now granted totals EUR 41.2 million.