Press releases of Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

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.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has expanded and improved its online historical archive. The improved online service was launched on 22 November.

Foreign Minister Haavisto highlighted the importance of human rights-based foreign policy in his speech to the Paasikivi Society in Helsinki on 27 November.

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.

Launched by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Salam project that promotes peace and reconciliation brought together young people interested in social influence. During the autumn, workshops were organised for young people to discuss peace building and the means of communication to promote reconciliation. For Iraqis, a workshop was organised in Erbil while in Afghanistan young people gathered in Kabul.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives, Abdulla Shahid, will visit Finland on 28–29 November and meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and Minister of Education Li Andersson. The visit will be hosted by Minister Haavisto.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will visit Minsk in Belarus on 25 November together with Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde. The Ministers will meet President Alexander Lukashenko and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei, as well as opposition and civil society representatives.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council (Development) will meet in Brussels on 25 November. Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will represent Finland at the meeting.

In the amendment to its 2020 budget proposal, the Government is proposing that the appropriations for discretionary government grants to civil society organisations that are relevant to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ responsibilities be increased to EUR 1.541 million from EUR 1.341 million.

Finland, the European External Action Service and the European Commission will co-organise a high-level event focusing on regional cooperation in the north in Helsinki on 29 November. The event, A Clean and Global North, is part of the programme for Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU. The event will also take into account the 20-year-old Northern Dimension policy, which has produced significant results in the environmental sector, for example, as regards the protection of the Baltic Sea.

The Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Singapore will enter into force on 21 November 2019.

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will chair Foreign Affairs Council meeting on trade issues in Brussels on 21 November. EU trade ministers will discuss the WTO, EU-US trade relations, and the report on the implementation of EU free trade agreements.