Foreign Ministry's press releases

Finland will contribute EUR 68.4 million to the replenishment of the African Development Fund (AfDF), which is the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group. Finland is also preparing a loan of EUR 80 million for the AfDF. The AfDF supports the continent's poorest countries.

According to a new UN assessment, 168 million people in 53 countries are currently in need of emergency relief. The guidelines for persons with disabilities in humanitarian crises, supported by Finland, have recently been adopted at both EU and UN levels.

At the end of the Conference on Business and Human Rights, held by Finland in Brussels on 2 December, Minister of Labour Timo Harakka and State Secretary Johanna Sumuvuori published an Agenda for Action for the EU.

A bug bounty project provides opportunities for information security researchers and hackers to examine, within a set of defined boundaries, the information security of selected services on the Internet. The protective measures of the targeted systems will not be opened for the duration of the project. 

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will visit Washington, the Unites States on 3 to 4 December. During his visit, he will meet United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and other representatives of the administration. He will also visit the US Congress.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise a conference to advance EU-level discussions on how businesses can better take human rights into account in their own activities, in the activities of their partners and in their supply chains. Minister of Employment Timo Harakka will open and close the conference.

On 2 December, Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will visit The Hague, where he will meet Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Stef Blok and representatives of international organisations based in The Hague.

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will lead an export promotion visit to Toronto, Canada, on 2 December. During his visit, he will attend the opening of the Toronto Office of Business Finland. The Minister will be accompanied by a business delegation representing Finnish expertise in the bioeconomy and circular economy sectors.

Speaking before the association dedicated to Finland’s former President Urho Kekkonen in Helsinki on 28 November 2019, Foreign Minister Haavisto underlined the positive role that Finland plays in the international agreements-based system.

In the 2019 Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index (NBI), Finland impresses with the biggest overall score increase out of the 50 countries measured. Perceptions of Finland as a leader in environmental protection, in particular, have strengthened.