Foreign Ministry's press releases

The Meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs will be organised at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 6-7 December 2016.

The last meetings of the Finnish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers will be held in Tornio on 7–8 December 2016. Removal of cross-border barriers to free movement is one of the central themes of the Finnish Presidency.

In cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise an international human resources event which will bring together over 200 representatives of the UN, the EU and financial institutions at the House of the Estates on 8 to 9 December 2016.

On December 1, 2016, ThisisFINLAND.fi releases a not-so-traditional Christmas calendar.

In their meeting, the President of the Republic and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed Finland's participation in the NATO Response Force, the North-East Passage cable project and the Finnish-Russian Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation

The outsourced reception of residence permit applications will be launched in Ankara, Turkey, when a new Residence Permit Centre will open for Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi citizens.

Secretary of State Peter Stenlund will attend an international conference in Tunisia dealing with the country's economic, social and sustainable development, on 29–30 November.

The Finnish-Russian Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation will meet in Moscow on 23 November 2016. The meeting will be chaired on the Finnish side by Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen.

The President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö has granted the 2016 Internationalisation Awards to BlueFors Cryogenics, a company specialising in ultra-low temperature measurement systems; OptoFidelity, a company developing testing systems for smart devices; and the City of Rovaniemi and Visit Rovaniemi, who promote Rovaniemi and Lapland globally.

Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen will visit Tanzania and Kenya on 14–19 November 2016. The two countries are Finland’s long-term partners in development cooperation but now they are hoping for more investments and trade with Finland. The Minister will be accompanied by a delegation of 24 Finnish companies and organisations.