Foreign Ministry's press releases

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has appointed Anna Laine to serve as Press Officer at Finland’s Consulate General in St Petersburg starting on 29 January 2018. The post will be a fixed-term appointment ending on 7 January 2021.

Nena Stoiljkovic, Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which belongs to the World Bank Group, will visit Helsinki and Vaasa from 14 to 15 December in order to present the Climate Fund (Finland-IFC Blended Finance for Climate Program), which was set up by Finland and IFC in October.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen will participate in the WTO Ministerial Conference that will take place on 10–13 December 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) will meet in Brussels on 11 December. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini.

The Nordic Council of Ministers has established a fixed-term council of ministers, MR-Digital, to coordinate cooperation on digitalisation. The Baltic states also participate in the cooperation. Minister Anne Berner will attend the first MR-Digital meeting on 8 December 2017 in Oslo.

Foreign Minister Soini will take part in the Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna on 7 and 8 December. The meeting will be hosted by Austria, which holds the Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2017.

Finland conveyed its grave concern about the situation in the Korean peninsula and strong condemnation of the latest ballistic missile test conducted by North Korea on 29 November. Director General Kimmo Lähdevirta of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs delivered the message to Ambassador Kang Yong Dok in Helsinki on 6th December, 2017.

The Meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs will be organised at NATO Headquarters in Brussels from 5 to 6 December 2017. Finland has been invited to attend the discussion relating to the cooperation between the EU and NATO. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini.

The President and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed Finland’s participation in international training and exercises, participation in certain crisis management operations, as well as the situation in the Middle East

Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, was presented with an unusual gift during his official visit to Finland. Two handmade hobbyhorses were presented to The Duke during his visit to Slush, the biggest startup event in Europe, which takes place in Helsinki annually.