The organisation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Three of the Ministers of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government are responsible for matters that fall under the administrative branch of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs:

  • Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen
  • Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio and
  • Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz, responsible for Nordic cooperation.

Minister for Foreign Affairs heads the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Ministry’s most senior public officials are the Permanent State Secretary and four Under-Secretaries of State.

Organisation chart of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. See content in text below.
The new organisation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs as of 1.8.2024.


The Ministry is divided into seven departments. The Political Department, the Department for International Trade and the Department for Development Policy are responsible for policy coordination.

Regional matters are handled by three departments: The Euro-Atlantic Department, the Department for Asia and Oceania, and the Department for Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

The Roving Ambassadors are based in the regional departments at the Foreign Ministry. Each Ambassador works in the unit that covers the geographical region of their area of operation.

The seventh department is the Department for Communications and Public Diplomacy.

The Ministry has functions outside the departments. They are:

  • Legal Service
  • Consular Services
  • Protocol Services
  • Administrative Services
  • Financial Management Unit
  • EU Affairs Unit
  • Unit for Internal Audit
  • Strategy Unit
  • Development Evaluation Unit.

The National Security Authority (NSA) is a separate unit at the Foreign Ministry.

The Foreign Service comprises the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Finnish missions abroad operating under its authority.