Foreign Ministry's press releases

Finland will participate in the replenishment cycle of the African Development Fund and in the reinforcing of the Fund’s work in the coming years, especially with regard to climate change adaptation. The African Development Fund helps the poorest African countries in coping with the many coinciding crises and in recovering from them.

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will lead a Team Finland trade mission to the State of Texas and visit Washington DC from 12 to 16 December.

The Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, will visit Helsinki on 13 and 14 December, at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto.

EU Foreign ministers to meet in Brussels on Monday 12 December. Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto to represent Finland at the meeting.

Finland will grant EUR 4.5 million in additional support to help Ukraine’s energy sector. The support will be used to address acute energy needs in schools, early education centres and hospitals and to develop the country’s energy efficiency in the longer term.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will visit the United States from 7 to 9 December.

Finland’s additional support will help the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) provide mobile health services, safe births and family planning for women who have been forced from their homes by the drought and food crisis in Somalia.

The Finnish Government submitted a proposal on Finland’s accession to NATO to Parliament on 5 December. The consultation on the draft proposal generated about 1,600 responses. The Government reviewed the proposal based on the responses and supplemented the rationale with specifications concerning cooperation between the Government and the President of the Republic, Parliament’s role in the handling of NATO matters and in making decisions on them, and the status of Åland Islands under international law.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has concluded the cooperation negotiations it initiated at the Service Centre for Entry Permits in Kouvola in October 2022. As a result, 17 public-service employment relationships will be terminated on a voluntary basis.

Almost half of the respondents to an international country image survey indicated that their perception of Finland improved during the last year. Finland’s NATO membership process has greatly contributed to increasing Finland’s visibility abroad and to improving perceptions of Finland.