Foreign Ministry's press releases

The EU General Affairs Council will convene in Brussels under leadership of the European development ministers on May 19th. Finland will be represented by Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen.

Finland’s Chairmanship of the Arctic Council will be opened in the Annexe of the Parliament Building on Thursday 18 May 2017 at 8.00–12.00. The Chairmanship will present the themes of Finland’s two-year term and there will be discussion on Finland’s Arctic cooperation.

The EU does not have competence to conclude a free trade agreement with Singapore alone without its Member States, according to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Court states in its opinion, submitted on 16 May, that certain provisions in the agreement fall within the competence shared between the EU and the Member States.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Zambia Harry Kalaba visits Finland on 17 May.

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has considered the periodic report of Finland on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination in 2015. The Committee published its conclusion in Geneva, Switzerland, on 12 May.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Hekmat Karzai will visit Finland on 15 May. The visit programme includes political consultations between Afghanistan and Finland. Deputy Foreign Minister Karzai will meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini and representatives from other ministries. He will also meet Afghans living in Finland.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council will meet in Brussels on 15 May. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini. The topics on the Council’s agenda will include the implementation of the EU Global Strategy in the area of security and defence, the Eastern Partnership, EU-Africa relations, and the situation in the Horn of Africa.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen will attend a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on 11 May.

The European Committee of Social Rights published a decision on 9 May stating that the minimum level of social security benefits is insufficient in Finland for over-45-year-old persons who have been laid off and who receive labour market subsidy and general housing allowance.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Washington, D.C., in the United Sates on 8–10 May, on his way to the Arctic Council meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs in Fairbanks, Alaska.