Current affairs

Minister of Education Anna-Maja Henriksson will visit India on 16–20 October to promote the export activities of Finnish education operators and to meet Indian ministers and education authorities. The visit will focus on comprehensive level and upper secondary vocational education in the three southern states of India, which have shown a clear interest in Finland: Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. India, which has recently become the world’s most populous country, is developing its education sector and is therefore an interesting partner for Finland.

Finland competes for the best startup entrepreneurs alongside other countries, and the competition for skilled professionals is intense. Indian entrepreneur Ashwin Sivakumar has recently moved to Finland with the goal of establishing a global health technology startup. Finland was chosen by Sivakumar because it is a pioneer in digital health innovations and digitally guided healthcare systems.

Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs is planning to launch a tendering process for outsourcing its entry permit application submission services in 2024. As a preparation for the upcoming tendering process, the Ministry will survey the market in autumn 2023.

The Embassy of Finland in India and the United Nations Office For Project Services (UNOPS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today as an endeavor to jointly develop a road map to establish replicable models of resource efficiency in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and circular economy practices in India.

Finland will make its first country strategy for India. The DESI Initiative will strengthen Finland’s competitive positioning on the Indian market.

The President of the Republic appointed a non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan at the presidential session on 13 September.

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.

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.

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.