Press Releases - Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Minister for Nordic Cooperation Anne Berner will attend a meeting of Ministers for Nordic Cooperation in Lund on 20 June 2018.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Romania on 13 June. He will have meetings with Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Melescanu, President Klaus Iohannis, and Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă.

100-year-old Ministry for Foreign Affairs will participate in the Alandica Debatt summer event, held on 13 and 14 June in Mariehamn, Åland

The Foreign Minister of the Republic of Indonesia, Retno Marsudi, will visit Helsinki on Monday 18 June and have a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini.

Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres will arrive in Finland to host a meeting of a High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation in Helsinki on Monday 18 June.

One of the most important processes of the United Nations General Assembly this spring is the assessment of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. In cooperation with Jordan, Finland co-leads the strategic assessment, which gives a visible role to Finland.

The Ministries for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Mexico, in cooperation with the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), will host the 8th Annual Meeting of the Global Network of responsibility to protect in Helsinki, Finland between 12 and 14 June 2018.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Tallinn on 8 June in order to have a meeting with Estonia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Mikser.

Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Natalia Kanem will visit Finland from 13 to 15 June 2018.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will host the executive meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) network that will take place in Helsinki on 11 to 12 June 2018.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will attend the African-Nordic Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Copenhagen on 6–7 June. In addition to the Nordic countries, the meeting is expected to gather representatives from about twenty African countries.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ Futures Review Finland acts in a changing world has been published on 4 June. The key message of the review is that Finland is not a bystander, but rather an active influencer in international development.

Tasavallan presidentti ja valtioneuvoston ulko- ja turvallisuuspoliittinen ministerivaliokunta käsittelivät perjantaina 1. kesäkuuta Suomen osallistumista eräisiin kansainvälisiin kriisinhallintaoperaatioihin.

At the presidential session on Friday 1 June, the President of the Republic decided to appoint Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Jyrki Pulkkinen to serve as Finland's Ambassador to Abuja, Nigeria, from 1 September 2018.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has placed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU. The tariffs on imports will enter into force on 1 June 2018. 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Workneh Gebeyehu, will visit Finland on 5 June 2018. 

What is the “relationship status” between “rules-loving” Finland and the “bureaucratic” EU? This will be put to test in a chatfiction series, planned and carried out by students of Turku University of Applied Sciences. In the series, Finland and other countries land on an island of temptations, where the Finland-EU relationship is tested. The humorous series was created as part of a communications course organised by Turku University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with Europe Information.

The OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) will be held in Paris on 30–31 May 2018. Finland's representatives at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen and Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) will meet in Brussels on 28 May. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini. The topics on the agenda will include Iran, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the ACP-EU Partnership after 2020 (Post-Cotonou), and the situation in Gaza.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, Heiko Maas, will visit Finland on Friday 25 May.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will celebrate its 100th anniversary on Friday 25 May 2018 at Finlandia Hall.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will host a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Finland, Germany, Sweden and Denmark in Helsinki on 25 May.

Finland has been sharing its public sector expertise with the EU’s neighbouring regions for 20 years now. The Twinning instrument, a tool for supporting good governance, has provided support, for example, to the eastern European countries which became EU Member States in 2004 and 2007. At the moment, there are ongoing Twinning projects in the Western Balkans, Turkey and the EU’s eastern and southern neighbouring countries.

The EU’s Foreign Affairs Council will meet on 22 May in Brussels with EU trade ministers playing a key role. In Brussels, Finland will be represented by Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council, led by member-state development ministers, will convene in Brussels on 22 May. Finland will be represented by Anne-Mari Virolainen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will attend the Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe at Elsinore, Denmark, on 17–18 May 2018.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen will meet Sweden's Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate and Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin and Minister for EU Affairs and Trade Ann Linde in Stockholm on Thursday 17 May.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In honour of the centenary celebrations, Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will end his tour of Finnish schools by attending an event organised at The English School in Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki, on Monday 21 May.

Finland is greatly concerned about the extensive use of force and the loss of lives at the Gaza border demonstrations.

100-year-old Ministry for Foreign Affairs with its partners will organise a Crisis Management Now event on 17 May from 10.00 to 17.30 in Kellohalli at the Abattoir complex in Kalasatama.

The Capital of Metal campaign sets out to determine which Finnish city deserves to be known internationally as the Capital of Metal. It also spotlights Finland’s position at the centre of the global heavy metal community: Finland has more metal bands per capita than any other country.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Canada and the UN Headquarters in New York from 8 to 11 May.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini's tour of schools will take him next to Turku and Salo.

Nina Suomalainen will start as Executive Director of Justice Rapid Response on 7 May 2018.

On Friday 4 May, the President of the Republic and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed issues relating to international crisis management.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs marks its centenary year by presenting its activities in events organised in different parts of Finland. On Wednesday 9 May, a public event will be held in Turku City Library.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen will visit Israel, the Palestinian territory and Jordan from 5 to 10 May 2018. The aim of the visit is to get an update of the humanitarian situation and to seek ways to promote trade relations and bilateral cooperation.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs marks its centenary year by presenting its activities in events organised in different parts of Finland. On Tuesday 5 May, a public event will be held in Oulu City Library.

Finland should reform its development cooperation and development policy to be able to promote gender equality in developing countries more effectively than before. The Development Policy Committee, a body appointed by the Government, will publish its assessment report Finland's Development Policy in 2018: Moving from myth to reality. Setting an example in strengthening equality for women and girls in developing countries in Parliament on Wednesday 2 May.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will meet Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström in Stockholm on 2 May.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini together with representatives of the international community will attend the Brussels Conference on

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs marks its 100th anniversary by presenting its activities in various public events in different parts of the country. A public event will be organised on 27 April in cooperation with the Regional Council of Central Finland, the Jyväskylä UN association, and Jyväskylä JEF-Finland (Young European Federalists Europe).

On 21 April 2018, the European Union and Mexico reached a political agreement on modernising their existing Free Trade Agreement.

Foreign Ministry's 24/7 services will be handled by the Emergency Response Centre Agency in Kerava from August 2018 onwards.

On Friday 20 April, the President of the Republic and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed the situation in Syria.

A delegation of directors and experts from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) will visit Helsinki next week.

United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake will visit Finland from 25 to 27 April. On Thursday 26 April, she will attend a visit to Helsinki Senior High School together with Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini and the Foreign Minister’s Special Representative on Mediation Jutta Urpilainen.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs marks its centenary year by presenting its activities in events organised in different parts of Finland. On Monday 23 April, a public talk and presentation will be held in Vaasa.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen will attend the spring meeting of the World Bank Group and a meeting of the joint Development Committee of the International Monetary Fund IMF and the World Bank in Washington D.C. on 20–21 April.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will attend the Nordic foreign ministers' meeting in Stockholm from 17 to 18 April 2018.