Current Affairs

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.

The President of the Republic of Finland approved the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between Finland and the United States. He also confirmed the act for acceptance and bringing into force of the agreement as well as related amendments to certain national acts.

Based on predetermined criteria, the contract was awarded to VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd, which is the current provider of the outsourced application services to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

The European Union extended its sanctions against Belarus on 30 June 2024. It also harmonised the EU’s sectoral sanctions against Russia and Belarus to prevent circumvention of sanctions against Russia. The sectoral sanctions were prepared as a response to Belarus’s complicity in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On 27 June 2024, Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio appointed Elina Björklund (M.Sc., Economics), Chairperson of the Board of Reima Group, to serve as the rapporteur preparing the reform of the Team Finland network of business services abroad to integrate the foreign functions of Business Finland with the Foreign Service.

Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs) and their partners promote the objectives of Finland’s development cooperation with the help of funding granted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Foreign Ministry has awarded approximately EUR 19.4 million in government grants for Finnish CSOs’ development cooperation projects in 2025–2028.

At the presidential session on 28 June, the President of the Republic decided to appoint two new Ambassadors and one non-resident Ambassador.

Finland had decided to allocate development cooperation funds to support three new projects in Ukraine. Two Institutional Cooperation Instrument (ICI) projects will develop respectively vocational education and training and air quality monitoring, and a fund of the European Investment Bank (EIB) will support the rebuilding of infrastructure in Ukraine.

The Ukraine Country Programme is the largest of the OECD’s country programmes. The four-year programme, costing a total of EUR 16.5 million, supports Ukraine in developing its legislation and institutions and helps the country prepare for its prospective membership in the EU and the OECD.

On 26 June 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe elected Doctor of Laws, LL.M. Juha Lavapuro as judge of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Finland, for a term of office to begin on 1 January 2025 at the latest. The Court has a total of 46 judg-es, a number equal to that of the High Contracting Parties to the Euro-pean Convention on Human Rights. One judge is elected with respect of each Contracting Party, and the judges serve in their individual capacity, independently and impartially.

The 14th EU sanctions package deploys significant new measures to prevent the circumvention and evasion of sanctions imposed on Russia. Among a slew of new measures the package addresses issues related to aviation and the shadow fleet, expands export bans, imposes additional restrictions on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) revenues, and increases the obligations of businesses to tackle sanctions circumvention. The list of individuals subject to asset freezes and travel bans will also be significantly extended.

The Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) of the Council of Europe will hold its hundredth meeting in Helsinki in 25–28 June. The CDDH develops human rights standards and promotes human rights in the Member States of the Council of Europe. The intergovernmental work of the CDDH is based on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and on the European human rights treaties.

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

The Government has approved the proposal for the Report on Finnish Foreign and Security Policy. The report assesses Finland’s foreign and security policy environment and defines Finland’s objectives and priorities for the next few years.

Nordic foreign ministers will convene in Stockholm from 19 to 20 June. State secretary Pasi Rajala will represent Finland at the meeting.

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen delivered the Nordic-Baltic statement at the 56th Session of the UN Human Rights Council on 18 June 2024.

Minister Anna-Maja Henriksson, who is responsible for matters related to Nordic cooperation, will attend a meeting of the Ministers for Nordic co-operation in Malmö, Sweden, on Tuesday 18 June.

The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold its 56th session in Geneva, Switzerland, from 18 June to 12 July.

Finland’s membership of the UN Human Rights Council continues until the end of 2024. This year, Ambassador Heidi Schroderus-Fox, Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations Office at Geneva, is serving as one of the Council’s Vice-Presidents. The President and Vice-Presidents are responsible for upholding the Council’s mandate to protect and promote human rights.

At the end of May, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs invited representatives of civil society organisations to comment on Finland’s participation in the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council. The discussions focused on increasingly narrow civic space in countries such as Belarus, Uganda and Myanmar and on the rights of women and girls in the midst of war and crises.

As part of the work to reform the Foreign Service, decisions have been made on changes to the Foreign Ministry’s communications. In the report submitted at the end of 2023, the working group recommended that the Department for Communications focus on current affairs and strategic communications and that the Foreign Ministry’s communications be primarily directed to audiences abroad and to supporting Finland’s foreign policy influencing activities.