Current affairs

The Fund for Local Cooperation (FLC) is a funding instrument managed by Finnish Embassies in eligible countries to support sustainable development cooperation efforts by civil society, mainly local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Community-based Organisations (CBOs), and the private sector. This year the FLC focuses on promoting the rights of women and girls in Lebanon.

The parliamentary elections will be held on Sunday 14 April 2019. Advance voting will be possible abroad from 3 to 6 April. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is responsible for the organisation of advance voting abroad.

Ambassador of the Republic of Finland Ms Tarja Fernández presented her Letter of Credentials to the President of the Republic of Lebanon, His Excellency General Michel Aoun on 13 September 2018.

The Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (Verifin), one of four laboratories chosen by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), analysed the material collected in Syria by the UN investigation mission for the use of chemical weapons.

A thriving democracy or an old oligarchy with new leaders? No one can know what will be the final outcome of the popular uprisings in the Arab countries. This was the opinion shared by the participants in the open discussion organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs at the House of the Estates on Monday, 4 April. In the event, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and Finnish ambassadors expressed their views of the happenings in the Arab World.

The national report on the Israeli air strike in Lebanon that claimed the life of a Finnish UN observer has been completed. The report was submitted to Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen on Friday 10 November at the Government Palace. Among those present were the Khiam expert group headed by Irma Ertman, Director General of the Legal Department at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The EU foreign ministers, meeting with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Brussels on Friday, 25 August, gave their full support to the swift implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 1701 and committed to forming the backbone of the enlarged UNIFIL operation in Lebanon, providing half of the expanded force.

Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said on Thursday on a visit to Germany that the EU hoped to see initial UN peacekeeping reinforcements arrive in the Middle East within a week. The full force is not expected to reach Lebanon earlier than in a month or two. Foreign Minister Tuomioja visited Berlin on 24 August and met with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Finland is making provision for sending a reinforced company, meaning at most 200-250 troops, to take part in the crisis management operation in Lebanon. The operation is, however, only in the stages of preparation. A separate decision on participation will be taken later, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said after a meeting with the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy and the President of the Republic on Friday.

“Finding a comprehensive political solution to the conflict in the Middle East and the reconstruction soon to begin are a test of the European Union’s external policy. The EU has the possibility to play a key role, because the EU is the only international actor that has credibility in the eyes of all parties to the conflict,” said Paula Lehtomäki, Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, who just returned from a visit to the region.