Current affairs

In accordance with the Government Programme, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has compiled action plans for the United States and Canada, which were made public on 7 December. According to Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, who presented the action plans, the preparation process in itself was useful in bringing together actors from different areas of Finnish society. The cooperation resulted in a wide range of objectives, the implementation of which the MFA will monitor.

Football isn’t the only sport to hold a world cup in 2010. At the other end of the earth from South Africa, in the Finnish capital, more international sports drama plays out as the Finns defend their title at the World Floorball Championship.

Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, visited Finland on 17 September at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb. The visit was one stop during the Minister’s one-week tour. Cannon arrived in Helsinki after having met his colleagues in Oslo and Moscow.

Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon will visit Finland on Friday, 17 September at the invitation of Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. The visitor’s agenda includes meetings with Foreign Minister Stubb and Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi. Foreign Minister Cannon will also go to the Pohjolan Voima bioenergy plant in Kerava, to learn about the plant’s operations.

Figure skaters Kiira Korpi and Laura Lepistö know that one shot is all they’ve got as they pursue their Vancouver Olympic dreams in a sport that merges beauty, artistry and athleticism.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will visit Canada on 10-16 February. The visit will include scheduled meetings with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon and Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay.

The Ministry for Foreigh Affairs has invited 19 recently graduated journalists or journalism students about to graduate to The Foreign Correspondents' Programme (FCP), a media and training programme organised by the Ministry.