Current affairs

New Ambassadors: Laitiainen to Sofia and Lehto to Luxemburg.

The knowledge and skills of Finnish students in science, mathematics and reading are of the highest order. In science and mathematics they are rated best in the OECD countries and in reading the second best. The main focus in PISA 2006 was science literacy.

During his trip to Bulgaria, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen met on Monday, 3 September with Ivailo Kalfin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria; during their talk the two ministers compared regional cooperation in the Baltic Sea and Black Sea regions and possibilities to benefit from the EU’s neighbouring area policy.