Foreign Ministry's press releases

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has recruited 20 new senior specialists in international business to work in 16 different countries. The intention is to increase Finnish exports in important export markets and, in particular, to help small- and medium-sized companies to work globally.

Yannick Glemarec, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), will visit Finland from 30 to 31 August.

Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Helga Schmid will visit Helsinki on Friday 27 August at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto. Schmid will also have discussions with President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö.

At an extraordinary meeting on 24 August, the Finnish Government decided to complement its earlier decisions and announced that Finland could admit to the country a maximum of 45 additional Afghan former employees of the Finnish Embassy in Kabul together with their families. Finland can also admit a new group of persons representing security sector employees together with their families, totalling a maximum of 83 persons.

On 25–27 August, the Europe Forum 2021 in Turku will gather Finnish opinion-makers and citizens to discuss Finland's role in Europe. The event will offer a wide range of discussions on the future of the EU and the position of Finland and the EU in the changing world order. During the Forum, the Ministers and public officials of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will contribute as speakers to events organised by other parties. In addition, on Friday 27 August the Foreign Ministry’s Europe Information will organise a discussion event on the future of an open Europe.

The United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF will establish two innovation hubs in Finland. The hubs are the latest addition to the UN competence cluster built in Finland in recent years by UNOPS and UN Global Pulse.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is making preparations to expand and strengthen the network of Finnish missions abroad. A new embassy will be opened in Dakar, Senegal. The embassy would start operations at some point later this year. In September 2020, Finland reopened its embassy in Manila, the Philippines. In addition to Dakar, Finland is currently preparing to open a mission in the capital of Qatar, Doha.

Intensive efforts are under way to evacuate Finns and Afghans who have been working for the Finnish Government from Afghanistan. Around ten people were evacuated from Kabul on Saturday, and a group of 52 have boarded evacuation flights so far on Sunday. This brings the total number of evacuees to 110 at present. The evacuees are Finnish citizens or permanent residents of Finland, along with other persons who have been working for Finland, the EU and NATO, together with their families.

On Friday 20 August, the President of the Republic decided to send a Defence Forces unit to Kabul International Airport to safeguard the evacuation operation of the Finnish relief team. The decision was preceded by deliberations on a report on the matter in the plenary session of Parliament. The report was submitted to Parliament on Thursday 19 August, and the deliberations took one day. The decision to send troops was made in accordance with the Act on the Making of Decisions Concerning the Provision of and Request for International Assistance. This is the first time the Act is being applied.

Finland has proposed deploying military forces to support the Foreign Ministry’s relief team carrying out the evacuation operation in Kabul. The decision to send troops is being made in accordance with the Act on Decision-making on the Provision of and Request for International Assistance. This is the first time the Act is being applied.