Foreign Ministry's press releases

The 75th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be celebrated on 11–12 December in Geneva, Switzerland. The Global Refugee Forum will be held in Geneva on 13–15 December. State Secretary Lauri Tierala will represent Finland at both events.

EU foreign ministers will convene in Brussels on 11 December. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio will make his first visit to Stockholm, Sweden on 11 December.

Finland is currently preparing for its chairpersonship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2025. As part of the preparations, Finland will reinstate the OSCE delegation, which operates in conjunction with the Embassy of Finland in Vienna, as Permanent Representation as of 1 January 2024.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In honour of the anniversary, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise, in cooperation with several partners, a national celebration ‘UN Declaration on Human Rights: 75 years of support to everyday human rights actions’ at Helsinki Music Centre on 8 December.

Matilda af Hällström will serve as Special Adviser to Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen from 4 December 2023 to 12 January 2024. She will deputise for Special Adviser Elisa Tarkiainen, who is on leave of absence.

Inflation, disruptions of raw material supply, extreme weather events and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine aggravate the food security situation in East Africa. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland will invest in the ARCAFIM programme to boost the agricultural productivity in the region and improve food security. The programme will also create new jobs and improve the living conditions of up to 1.5 million people. Private sector financing will account for half of the programme’s funding.

Finland and Italy will put forward joint initiatives to promote a consistent approach on the external dimension of migration policies and countering migration-related malign influence.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Business Finland will co-host a side event to the Finnish start-up and technology event Slush to offer companies interested in the possibilities of development financing the chance to meet with venture capital investors and UN agencies. One of the development finance institutions present is the ADB Ventures fund of the Asian Development Bank. The Foreign Ministry will announce its investment of EUR 20 million in the fund.

Effective implementation of sanctions requires an understanding of sanctions and their application. In order to expand Finns’ knowledge of sanctions, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has published an online course on sanctions open to all. The course covers not only the basic aspects of sanctions that are repeated across all sanctions systems, but also the special features of the sanctions against Russia.