Foreign Ministry's press releases

Preparations for a new government report on Finnish foreign and security policy are underway. As part of the preparations, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, under the leadership of Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen, will organise a series of panel discussions on topical foreign and security policy matters together with four Finnish universities in spring 2024. The first event will take place at the University of Tampere on Monday 4 March.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit New Delhi, India, on 21–22 February. She will attend India’s most important foreign and security policy conference, the Raisina Dialogue. The visit will take place within the framework of co-operation between the Nordic and Baltic countries (NB8).

The organization’s newly elected Executive Committee implements reforms. The recognised problems do not directly relate to the project funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (the Ministry). However, the Ministry has suspended payments of the government grant to the international non-governmental organization while investigations are ongoing.

EU foreign ministers will convene in Brussels on 19 February. State Secretary Lauri Tierala will represent Finland at the meeting.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs requests comments on a draft proposal for amending the Decree of the President of the Republic on the Locations of Finland’s Diplomatic Missions and the Provision of Consular Services in the Foreign Service. The consultation round will be open until 20 March 2024.

In the second round of the presidential election, a total of 62,294 people cast their vote in advance at Finland’s missions abroad. Altogether 220 crew members voted on board Finnish vessels.

Minister for Nordic Cooperation Anna-Maja Henriksson will attend a meeting of Ministers for Nordic Cooperation in Copenhagen on 9 February. This will be the first meeting during Sweden’s 2024 Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will meet Montenegro’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Filip Ivanović in Helsinki on 12 February.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Vienna on 8–9 February 2024. She will meet Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and leaders of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Minister Valtonen will also give a speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.

A working group of public officials from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment examined ways to reform the Team Finland export promotion network. The working group’s report was published on 6 February 2024.