Current affairs

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 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.