Foreign Ministry's press releases

On 20–27 February, Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Tokyo, Seoul and the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

The informal meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers (Gymnich) will be held in Sofia on 15-16 February.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will illuminate the seaside façade of Merikasarmi, its main building, on 16 February to mark the 100th anniversary of Lithuania's independence and on 24 February for Estonia's 100th anniversary.

An International Conference of Iraq Reconstruction and Development will be held in Kuwait from 12 to 14 February.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs appointed Helena Liikanen-Renger to serve as Press Officer at the Embassy of Finland in Washington, starting on 1 June 2018. The post will be a fixed-term appointment ending on 31 May 2021.

On 12 January, the President of the Republic transferred and appointed Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen to the post of Minister of the Interior and appointed Member of Parliament Anne-Mari Virolainen to the post of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen adopted a decision of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to grant EUR 206.8 million to Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs) for development cooperation programmes to be carried out in 2018–2021.The funding is directed to 22 programmes. The five biggest recipients are Finn Church Aid, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, Fida International, Plan Finland, and the Finnish Red Cross.

As a part of its 100th anniversary, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will present its activities in various public events to be organised in different parts of the country. On 13 February, a public event will be organised in Pori.

Minister for Nordic Cooperation Anne Berner will attend a meeting of the Ministers for Nordic Cooperation in Stockholm on 8 February 2018.

The Foreign Ministry will invite CSOs to submit proposals for funding development communications and global education projects in 2018, like before.