Foreign Ministry's press releases

In its session on 8 August, the Government appointed a Director General and a Deputy Director General to the Department for Development Policy and an Inspector-General of the Foreign Service to the Unit for Internal Audit. The Government also appointed a Director General of Administrative Services.

The European Union responds to the deterioration of the internal situation in Belarus by imposing new sanctions against individuals responsible for serious human rights violations or for undermining democracy or the rule of law. The EU Member States approved the additional sanctions on 26 July 2024.

Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will meet the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, in Helsinki on 6 August.

In its session on 1 August, the Government appointed Deputy Directors General to the Department for Euro-Atlantic Affairs and the Department for International Trade and a Director to the Unit for EU Affairs.

EU foreign affairs ministers will convene in Brussels on 22 July. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

The Government approved the proposal for the Report on International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation on 11 July 2024. The report complements the Report on Foreign and Security Policy with more detailed trade and development policy measures.

The applicant complained under Article 8 taken alone, and in conjunction with Article 13 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, that involuntary administration of medication had violated her right to respect for her private life, and that she had not had an effective domestic remedy in that regard.

At the presidential session on 5 July, the President of the Republic appointed a new ambassador.

The President of the Republic of Finland approved the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between Finland and the United States. He also confirmed the act for acceptance and bringing into force of the agreement as well as related amendments to certain national acts.

The European Union extended its sanctions against Belarus on 30 June 2024. It also harmonised the EU’s sectoral sanctions against Russia and Belarus to prevent circumvention of sanctions against Russia. The sectoral sanctions were prepared as a response to Belarus’s complicity in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.