Foreign Ministry's press releases

The official Finnish name of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will change to ‘ulkoministeriö’. The act on the change of official name will enter into force on 1 January 2018. The Ministry will keep the Swedish (utrikesministeriet) and English (Ministry for Foreign Affairs) equivalents of its name unchanged.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo on 9–11 October. The visit to Macedonia and Serbia will be a joint visit with Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallström.

Possible shifts in US trade policy, although directed against China, would have implications even for Finland, the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA) estimates in its report “Shield the US from Imports! GDP Impacts on Finland and Other European Union Member States”, which was commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Paris from 4 to 5 October to discuss the strengthening of the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy with the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian

Finland will participate in the NATO Crisis Management Exercise 2017 (CMX17) between 4 and 11 October as a NATO partner country.

The European Union has appointed Director General Kauko Aaltomaa of the Police Department, the Ministry of the Interior, as Head of the EUPOL COPPS civilian crisis management operation on 28 September 2017.

On Monday 25 September, the President of the Republic and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed issues relating to international crisis management.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has commissioned an independent evaluation of the development cooperation of 22 Finnish civil society organisations.

The UN has estimated that the treatment of Rohingya amounts to ethnic cleansing, and the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has demanded Myanmar to suspend military action against Rohingya.

The provisional application of the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada starts on 21 September 2017. Finnish companies will be able to take advantage of the Agreement in their trade with Canada.