Current affairs

A large export and investment promotion delegation from China led by Mr Gao Hucheng, Vice Minister of Commerce, arrives in Finland on 9 July at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen and Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen.

Led by Mr Gao Hucheng, Vice Minister of Commerce, a large export and investment promotion delegation from China is visiting Finland on 9–10 July at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen and Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen. The official delegation is accompanied by representatives of more than 200 Chinese companies.

New Ambassadors and Consuls General to Beijing, Copenhagen, Ljubljana, OECD Mission, Dublin, Vienna, Bern, Paris, Canton, Hamburg and Las Palmas.

By decision of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen, on Friday, 12 December, Finland granted the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) the sum of 400,000 euros, to be used for psychosocial support of victims of the earthquake that struck Sichuan Province, China.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen stressed the importance of a rules based trade and investment system in cooperation between Finland, China and Russia, and in global cooperation, when he opened the two-day Finland – China – Russia Economic Forum in Helsinki on 30 October.

Welcoming Address by Dr. Paavo Väyrynen Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Finland - China - Russia Economic Forum 30 October 2008, Helsinki

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission 250,000 euros for reconstruction of the earthquake region in China, and 100,000 euros to Fida International for assistance to Myanmar in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen made today a decision to grant EUR 500,000 in response to the emergency appeal the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, IFRC, launched due to the earthquake in China, to be administered through the Finnish Red Cross.

The death toll of the earthquake on 12 May in Sichuan province in China is growing. The Embassy of Finland in Beijing has reached the majority of those Finnish citizens in the earthquake area who had given their contact information to the embassy in advance (registering with the embassy is voluntary but desirable) or who had reported about themselves to the embassy in other ways. The embassy has reached slightly over 80 Finns.

Politiska statssekreteraren Teija Tiilikainen kallade Kinas ambassadör Ma Keqing till utrikesministeriet för att höras om händelserna i Tibet. Tiilikainen konstaterade vid mötet tisdagen den 18 mars att Finland är bekymrat över situationen.