Current affairs

The Baltic Sea Action Summit to be held in Helsinki on 10 February is no ordinary summit. This gathering is made unique by its participants: leaders representing governments, the business community, NGOs and philanthropy. “This promises to be a fine and productive summit,” Jari Luoto, Ambassador for Baltic Sea Issues at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, said on Thursday at the press conference organised to provide background information about the summit.

The Baltic Sea Action Summit (BSAS) to be held in Helsinki at Finlandia Hall on 10 February will present more than 130 Baltic Sea commitments made so far. Concrete commitments have been made by private sector companies of various size, and actors representing the public and third sectors. The heads of state or government participating in the Summit will also make their own commitments contributing to the recovery of the Baltic Sea.

The Baltic Sea Action Summit to be held on 10 February 2010 at Finlandia Hall will bring high-level representatives of ten Baltic Sea states to Helsinki. Seven heads of state or government have confirmed their participation in the Summit which will also gather representatives of NGOs and the business sector.

On Thursday 20 August, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will attend the dinner of the foreign minister meeting of Nordic Countries and Baltic States – the so-called NB8 Group – to be organised in Reykjavik, Iceland. The topics of discussion will include the ongoing Swedish EU Presidency, Iceland’s EU membership application, the economic crisis and its impacts in the participating countries, and the situation in Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will participate in the Nordic–African Foreign Ministers Meeting, to take place in Helsingør, Denmark on 11–12 March. This informal forum of dialogue has been convened since 2001, the site alternating between the Nordic countries and Africa. At the meeting, the foreign ministers of the Nordic countries and ten African countries exchange ideas on topical issues.

The Nordic foreign ministers discussed further development of Nordic foreign and security policy cooperation when they met in Oslo on Monday, 9 February. The meeting received an independent report on the topic compiled by Thorvald Stoltenberg, former defence minister and foreign minister of Norway. Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb welcomes the Stoltenberg report, and considers it a valuable input in the discussion of further development of Nordic cooperation.

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

The Nordic foreign ministers met in Helsinki on Monday, 27 October. At the meeting of the Nordic Council, they discussed the global financial crisis that has struck the economy of Iceland particularly hard. They gave their full support to Iceland and its efforts to pull through the difficulties arising from the global financial crisis. In addition, the foreign ministers discussed Nordic cooperation in the EU, the UN, Afghanistan and in Arctic regions.

The Nordic trade ministers discussed the ongoing World Trade Organization negotiations at their meeting in Helsinki on 27 October. According to the ministers, the situation arising from the global financial crisis must be used to advantage to bring the WTO negotiations to conclusion.

On 16 June the Nordic foreign ministers met in Luxembourg and agreed that an independent study should be drawn up to look into how Nordic cooperation in the area of foreign and security policy can be developed over the next 10-15 years.