Current affairs

Some of the prices of services provided by the Finnish missions and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will rise. The new prices will enter into force on 1 September 2023.

EU foreign affairs ministers will meet at the Informal Meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers (Gymnich) in Toledo in Spain on 30–31 August. State Secretary Lauri Tierala will represent Finland at the meeting.

Heads of Finland’s missions abroad and foreign policy leaders will meet again at the Annual Meeting of Heads of Mission in Helsinki on 21–23 August.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has appointed Johanna Kaprio-Papageorgiou as Press Counsellor at Finland’s Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels from 16 August 2023 to 31 July 2026.

EU foreign ministers will convene in Brussels on 20 July. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting. The ministers will also have an informal exchange of views with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken via videoconference.

Finland will assume the presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) on 1 July 2023 for one year.

Comments on the Ministry for Foreign Affairs proposal may be given at lausuntopalvelu.fi until 8 August 2023.

Comments on the draft government proposal may be submitted to the lausuntopalvelu.fi service until 15 August 2023.

EU foreign ministers will convene in Luxembourg on 26 June. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will attend the Foreign Affairs Council in its trade configuration in Brussels on Thursday 25 May. The trade ministers will discuss the EU’s trade relations with the United States and China and preparations for the next Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The ministers will also discuss the EU’s ongoing bilateral trade negotiations.