Foreign Ministry's press releases

The EU Ministers of Trade will meet in Brussels on 10 November 2017. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will make a series of visits to Finnish schools. The aims of the visits are to enhance upper secondary school students’ knowledge of what foreign policy actions Finland is taking in order to prevent violent radicalisation, and to try to make the youth more critical towards radicalisation.

On Wednesday 8 November 2017, Finland was elected to the Executive Board of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The four-year term will start in November 2017. The election was conducted by the Member States of UNESCO. This was the most important UN candidacy for Finland this year. All the Nordic countries supported Finland’s candidacy.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Egypt from 6 to 9 November 2017. The main objective of the visit is to strengthen discussion dealing with central foreign and security policy questions and to promote cooperation between the two countries, including commercial and economic cooperation.

Minister of State for External Affairs of India, M. J. Akbar, will visit Finland on 5–7 November 2017 on the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini. Minister Akbar will be the most distinguished visitor from India in Finland this year, which marks Finland’s 100 years and India’s 70 years of independence.

The Finnish Consulate in São Paulo started operations on 1 September. From now on, the Consulate will be responsible for all citizen services, including passport and residence permit matters, which were formerly handled at the Embassy of Finland in Brazil.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will meet Norway’s newly elected Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreiden on 31 October and Denmark’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Anders Samuelsen on 1 November in connection with the Ordinary Session of the Nordic Council in Helsinki.

The Development Assistance Committee of the OECD is in the process of finalising a peer review of Finland’s development cooperation efforts. The review report to be published in December praises Finland for its provision of rapid and flexible humanitarian aid.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen will visit Paris on 24–25 October. Minister Mykkänen will meet Minister of State Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, who is responsible for trade and development matters. The Ministers will discuss trade policy questions, such as the allocation of competences for concluding trade agreements in the EU and monitoring of investments. Additionally, the Ministers will exchange views on trade and sustainable development, and about sexual and reproductive heal

Finland has upgraded diplomatic representation in Colombia. The Liaison Office of Finland placed in the capital of Colombia Bogotá since 2013 has been upgraded to an Embassy, to be headed by Ambassador Jarmo Kuuttila. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä inaugurates the Embassy on 24 October 2017 during his visit to Colombia.