The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the Council of Europe are organising a high-level expert conference on the impacts of artificial intelligence on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. The conference will be held in Helsinki on 26-27 February 2019.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Soini will visit Rome and Vatican City from 19 to 21 February and have a meeting with his Italian counterpart. This year marks the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Finland and Italy.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted a discretion government transfer of EUR 911,000 to be distributed to nine civil society organisations (CSO) working in the area of foreign and security policy.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) will meet in Brussels on 18 February. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini. The topics on the meeting agenda include Ukraine, Syria and the Horn of Africa. At lunch, foreign ministers will discuss the situation in Venezuela. Minister Soini will also attend an EU-Ukraine breakfast meeting, hosted by Denmark and Ukraine. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin will be present, too.

On 14 February 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) gave its judgment in a case concerning Finland. The Court held that there had been no violation of Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen will make a Team Finland visit to Mexico on 14–15 February. The Minister will be accompanied by a Team Finland delegation.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted EUR 470,000 in discretionary government transfers to civil society organisations’ (CSOs) Europe information. In addition, EUR 100,000 was granted to the provision of information relating to the European elections.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen will visit Washington DC on 11–12 February.

Special Representative of UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction Mami Mizutori, who is head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), and Kirsi Madi, Director at UNISDR, will visit Finland on 11–12 February 2019.

On Tuesday 12 February, Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Moscow and have a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

A working group consisting of development and education specialists proposes that Finland should adopt education as one of its development cooperation and development policy priorities and significantly increase its funding for the cause. Ministers Anne-Mari Virolainen and Sanni Grahn-Laasonen support the proposal. They have decided to set up a broad-based steering group to promote the working group's recommendations and to foster closer cooperation between operators in the field in Finland.

Minister Anne Berner will attend a meeting of Ministers for Nordic Cooperation in Reykjavik on 6–7 February 2019.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has appointed Elna Nykänen Andersson to serve as Press Officer at Finland's Embassy in Stockholm. The three-year term will start on 4 March 2019. She will transfer to the post from content agency OTW.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Washington DC on 5–8 February and attend a Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, hosted by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In addition, Minister Soini will have meetings with representatives of the administration and participate in the annual National Prayer Breakfast, hosted by members of the US Congress.

On 1 February 2019, the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee published two Views concerning complaints about the definition of who is entitled to enter the electoral roll to the elections to the Sámi Parliament in Finland.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will participate in an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers (Gymnich) in Bucharest on 31 January–1 February. The topics on the agenda of the two-day meeting will be the EU's Eastern Partnership, China, Venezuela, and Syria.

The EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement will enter into force on 1 February 2019. Together the European Union and Japan form a trading zone of 635 million consumers and the agreement will cover nearly one third of the world’s total GDP.

On Tuesday 29 January, Finland’s Minister for Nordic Cooperation Anne Berner had a meeting with Ann Linde, Sweden's Minister for Nordic affairs.

The second HAnalys seminar, an annual event launched by Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini and Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström, will be held at the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre Hanaholmen.

SIn 2018, Finland processed a total of 768,978 applications for a Schengen visa. The number of applications dropped by seven per cent compared to the previous year. Of visa applications for entry to Finland, 87 per cent came from Russia. India overtook Ukraine in the number of visa applications, being now the third biggest in the list of visa national countries. In June 2018, Ukrainian citizens in possession of a biometric passport were exempted from the visa requirement, which means that a visa is needed only by those who have a non-biometric passport.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will meet Minister Margot Wallström, who continues as Minister for Foreign Affairs in Sweden's new Government, on 29 January 2019 at the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre Hanaholmen. This is Minister Wallström's first official visit abroad as Minister in Prime Minister Stefan Löfven's II Government.

Finland ranked first in the Good Country Index published on 23 January. The results of the Index indicate that, relative to its size, Finland contributes more to humanity and burdens the planet less than any other country.

Finland supports the access to education and child protection of children who have escaped the Syrian crisis to Lebanon. Through the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, Finland will allocate EUR 3.7 million to supporting the most vulnerable children’s access to education.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on 23–25 January 2019.

This is FINLAND Magazine 2018–2019, the English-language annual publication showcasing Finnish expertise and experts, gets pumped up about Finnish start-up enterprises, Finland’s superior arctic expertise and the outlook for circular economy in Finland. The magazine, which is available at Finland’s foreign missions and distributed by the Team Finland network, in particular, to potential export markets and at export events, also gives insight to Finnish food and food culture, and our public libraries from Ivalo to Mariehamn.

The National Bureau of Investigation and the Finnish Border Guard are investigating a series of crimes suspected to involve aggravated facilitation of illegal entry and gross abuse of public office. Crimes related to issuance of Schengen visas are suspected to have been committed in Finland's Embassy of Ankara in Turkey.

The Foreign Minister’s Special Representative on Mediation Jutta Urpilainen, Member of Parliament, says that development of EU peace mediation and conflict prevention work is topical now, ten years after the adoption of the concept on strengthening EU mediation and dialogue capacities. Urpilainen and Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini took part in an unofficial ministerial mediation breakfast in Brussels.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Soini will attend the Council of Europe Winter Session in Strasbourg on 21–22 January and hold a speech at the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in the capacity of the Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) will meet in Brussels on 21 January. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini. On the morning of the day of the meeting, Finland will host an unofficial ministerial mediation breakfast, which will be attended by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and representatives of African youth.

Finns are travelling to all corners of the world. In 2018, over 241,000 Finns registered at matkustustilmoitus.fi, which means that they submitted their travel plans and contact details to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Those who had submitted their travel details received information and instructions from the Foreign Ministry in 92 crisis situations, most of which were related to natural disasters.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will participate in the Nordic Travel Fair Matka 2019 at the Expo and Convention Centre, Messukeskus Helsinki, from 17 to 20 January 2019. At our stand 6s61, experts on travel safety and healthy travelling will provide you tips and advice on how to prepare for various situations when travelling abroad.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro Srđan Darmanović will visit Finland on Thursday 17 January and have a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini.

President Sauli Niinistö and President Xi Jinping published a Joint Action Plan on promoting a bilateral partnership between China and Finland during President Niinistö's state visit to China.

The aim is to increase exchange of information and cooperation between Finnish and Indian specialists and authorities.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Iceland on 13-15 January.

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Algeria Abdelkader Messahel will visit Finland on Friday 11 January and have a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will commission consultancy company Ramboll to conduct an independent study of how harassment incidents are handled in the Ministry.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Poland on 17-18 December.

Development financier Finnfund has succeeded in investing more and more in the world’s poorest countries and most difficult sectors, while also maintaining its commercial viability. The most positive development impacts can be seen in the company’s investments in agriculture and forestry. This information comes from an independent assessment of the company’s activities.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) will meet in Brussels on 10 December. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini. Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin will attend an informal lunch during the meeting.

A United Nations Technology Innovation Lab (UNTIL) will be officially inaugurated on Wednesday 5 December at a Slush side event, co-hosted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) of the United Nations.

The North Atlantic Council (NAC) will meet at the level of foreign ministers at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 4–5 December 2018. On 5 December, foreign ministers will gather for a meeting on NATO's Resolute Support (RS) mission in Afghanistan together with the partner countries contributing troops to the mission.

The annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) will be held on Monday 3 December. Finland has strengthened the rights of persons with disabilities especially in the humanitarian assistance sector. Progress has been made in recent years at both the political and project levels. The results are presented in the Development Policy Results Report 2018, which was published in November.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen will make a Team Finland visit to India from 29 November to 1 December 2018. Minister Virolainen will be accompanied by a business delegation representing Finnish expertise in the digital, industrial, services and trade sectors.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen will visit Geneva on 27 November.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen will attend the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on 26 November 2018. Development ministers will exchange views on the European Commission's initiative for Africa, the multiannual financial framework (MFF), as well as gender equality and violence against women.

The Government discussed arms export matters and decided that in the current situation there are no foundations for new arms export authorisations to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. In its deliberations, the Government laid stress on the alarming humanitarian situation in Yemen, in particular.

Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Thomas Greminger will visit Finland on Friday 23 November and meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini.

Finland will take over the Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 21 November 2018.