Minister for Foreign Affairs Haavisto to visit Vienna

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will visit Vienna, Austria, on 1 November. Haavisto will attend a symposium of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and meet the Austrian Foreign Minister.

In its symposium, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will celebrate the Agency’s important anniversaries: 60 years of IAEA inspections, 50 years of safeguards agreements, and 25 years of additional protocols.  

The IAEA applies nuclear safeguards and ensures that nuclear material subject to the safeguards are not used to further any military or other purposes. 

Finland has been a Member of the Board of Governors of the IAEA since 2021, and the membership is due to continue until autumn 2024. 

“The International Atomic Energy Agency is an example of an international body whose work has become even more important in the current security policy situation. Finland was the first country to sign a safeguards agreement with the IAEA. This agreement entered into force in 1972, and it has served as a model for later agreements between states and the IAEA,” says Foreign Minister Haavisto.

Foreign Minister Haavisto will meet IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. They will talk about nuclear safety and security in Ukraine and other topical themes.   

In addition, Minister Haavisto will meet Austria’s Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Alexander Schallenberg. They will discuss topical foreign and security policy questions, such as Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and energy security. 
In Vienna, Foreign Minister Haavisto will also meet Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Helga Schmid and representatives of research institutes and civil society organisations.