Current affairs

The Baltic Sea Action Summit to be held in Helsinki on 10 February is no ordinary summit. This gathering is made unique by its participants: leaders representing governments, the business community, NGOs and philanthropy. “This promises to be a fine and productive summit,” Jari Luoto, Ambassador for Baltic Sea Issues at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, said on Thursday at the press conference organised to provide background information about the summit.

The knowledge and skills of Finnish students in science, mathematics and reading are of the highest order. In science and mathematics they are rated best in the OECD countries and in reading the second best. The main focus in PISA 2006 was science literacy.

The Government of Finland discussed in its evening session on 7 November the shooting incident that had taken place in the Jokela School Centre. After the meeting, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen extended the Government’s heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of victims of the incident. During the evening session, the Government observed a short period of silence to commemorate the victims.