Foreign Ministry's press releases

The Foreign Ministry’s resources were secured in the budget session The Ministry's operating expenses total EUR 218.14 million. The Government decided to increase the appropriations for development cooperation and export promotion.

Finnish Ambassadors and representatives of Finpro will participate in a tour of six Finnish cities, organised in cooperation with the Finland Chamber of Commerce and the regional chambers of commerce from 29 to 31 August 2017.

On 25 August, Foreign Minister Timo Soini will participate in the NB8 meeting bringing together Nordic and Baltic foreign ministers in Oslo, Norway.

Thousands of Finns and friends of Finland will be dining together on the weekend of 25–27 August to celebrate 100 years of Finnish independence. Finnish Your Dinner events will be organised around the globe in public places and private homes.

The annual review Maailman Markkinat 2017–2018 (global markets 2017–2018) was published on 18 August. The countries presented in the review are of particular interest both with regard to their markets and current trade policies.

The BEAM programme supporting enterprises’ innovation activities in the emerging markets has given impetus to projects that otherwise would not have been launched at all. The developmental impacts of the activities would, however, further improve, if there was more cooperation with local operators and if enterprises, NGOs and research institutes had more joint projects.

A further video has appeared in social media concerning the Finnish national kidnapped in Kabul, Afghanistan in May. Finland strongly condemns the kidnapping and the related extortion and urges immediate release of the kidnapped Finnish national.

The Heads of Finland's diplomatic and consular missions abroad gather to their annual meeting in Helsinki on 21 to 24 August. Ambassadors play a central role when the 100-year-old Finland practises active diplomacy internationally and the 99-year-old Ministry for Foreign Affairs works for Finland and Finns at the international level.

The Macedonian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nikola Dimitrov, will visit Finland and have a meeting with Foreign Minister Timo Soini on 17 August.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ 2018 budget proposal for its administrative branch totals MEUR 1,079.