Foreign Ministry's press releases

The 11th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting will be held in Rovaniemi, Finland, on Tuesday 7 May 2019. The meeting will be hosted by Finland and chaired by Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Soini will have a meeting with New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters in Helsinki on 26 April.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit New York on 22–25 April 2019 to attend meetings of the General Assembly and the Security Council of the UN. His programme will include events that concentrate on the strengthening of multilateralism, the prevention of conflicts, and mediation, for example.

Minister Anne Berner will attend a meeting of Ministers for Nordic Cooperation in Copenhagen on 24 April.

In this year’s parliamentary elections, a total of 41,127 eligible voters used their right to vote abroad. Of these, 40,914 persons voted in Finnish missions abroad during the advance voting period, while 213 Finnish crew members cast their advance votes on board ships.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is planning and creating communication that will promote peace and reconciliation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Communication will focus on young people and the faith that young people hold in their own ability to contribute to society.

In 2018, the amount of expenditure used for development cooperation fell in real terms by 14.6% in relation to the previous year. With a contribution of EUR 833 million to development cooperation, Finland was the ninth largest donor among the EU Member States.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) will meet in Luxembourg on 8 April. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini. Items on the agenda include Afghanistan, Eastern Partnership and Venezuela.

In 2019, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, together with other Team Finland organizations and the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki, will organize Road Show in Finland. The aim is to strengthen bilateral commercial and economic relations between Finland and the United States by advancing trade, investments and innovation cooperation.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will host a joint session of the Presidential Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) and the Committee of Ministers Bureau of the Council of Europe in Helsinki on 3 April 2019.