Current affairs

A joint proposal by Finland, Estonia and France has been selected a contract for to implementing a Twinning project in Armenia. The two-year project will start at the end of the year. It will support the reforms of Armenian public administration and strengthen public officials’ skills and competences. HAUS Finnish Institute of Public Management Ltd will be responsible for the project in Finland.

From 1 October 2019, Schengen visas will be issued by the following seven embassies of Finland in Europe: Berlin, Dublin, London, Madrid, Nicosia, Sofia and Stockholm.

Finland presents new sustainable innovations in Estonia during The Presidency.

The aim of the Twinning project starting in autumn 2019 is to develop the Turkish Prison Service in line with European standards. This can be achieved by strengthening the quality of the procedures applied in prisons and the activity of the persons working there. The joint tender of Finland and Estonia won the competitive tendering open to all EU Member States.

Minister Pekka Haavisto will make his first visit to Estonia as Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs on Tuesday 18 June. He will have a meeting with Estonia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu.

If you have participated in the Foreign Correspondents’ Programme or Young Journalists, as it was first called in the 90’s, now you might have a chance for another Finland-packed experience. Foreign Correspondents’ Programme – Alumni Edition 2019 starts on June 10th and ends on June 16th, 2019. Check out if you’re eligible and apply now!

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini has been awarded an Estonian State decoration to be conferred to him on Friday 22 February. While in Tallinn, Minister Soini will also meet the President and the Foreign Minister of Estonia.

Finland is number one in the newest Good Country Index, which seeks to measure “what each country on earth contributes to the good of humanity.” We talk to the index’s creator, Simon Anholt, about what it means to be “goodest.”

Full of illuminated surprises, the annual Lux Helsinki light festival uses coloured beams to transform some of the city’s best loved buildings and streets in early January. You can see them in our photos without braving the cold.

A possibility to vote by post will be introduced in the parliamentary elections of spring 2019. This means that eligible voters who reside abroad permanently (expatriate Finns) and eligible voters who reside in Finland but are abroad at the time of the elections may vote by post. Advance voting will be arranged at Finnish diplomatic and consular missions abroad in the same manner as before.