Foreign Ministry's press releases

Finland is coordinating the cooperation between the Nordic countries and Baltic states in the Nordic–Baltic Eight (NB8) format in 2021. The NB8 foreign ministers’ meeting will be held on 15 September at Vanajanlinna, Hämeenlinna. The NB8 countries and the Visegrád Group (V4) will have a joint meeting at foreign ministerial level on the previous day, 14 September. The V4 countries are Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The Nordic Ministers for Cooperation will meet under the leadership of Minister Thomas Blomqvist in Mariehamn 13-14 September 2021. At the meeting, the ministers will prepare the Nordic Council of Ministers’ budget for 2022 and explore the state of the Nordic freedom of movement when they meet the Freedom of Movement Council. The fourth ministerial meeting during the Finnish Presidency will be held in close cooperation with the Åland Islands and will be part of the celebrations for its 100th anniversary as an autonomous region.

Finland will participate in the EU cooperation that enables donation of COVID-19 vaccines purchased in advance. During this autumn, about 3.6 million vaccines will be donated to developing countries. The vaccine donations will not slow down the rollout of vaccinations in Finland.

Finland supports the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) by EUR 3.6 million between 2021 and 2023 to develop value chains in sustainable forestry, mining and circular economy and to create jobs in developing countries. The project also includes a section strengthening the position of women and promoting gender equality in the work of UNIDO. The agreement was signed in Vienna on 8 September.

An informal meeting of EU foreign ministers (Gymnich) will be held in Kranj, Slovenia, on 2–3 September 2021. Finland’s representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto. After the meeting, on 3–4 September, Minister Haavisto will visit Tallinn.

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will visit Japan on 1–5 September 2021. Minister Skinnari will attend the Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games as a representative of Finnish state leaders and have meetings with Japanese ministers and representatives of Japanese companies.

Finland’s relief efforts in Afghanistan were complemented late on the night of Friday 27 August, when the employees of the company responsible for the security of Finnish Embassy personnel were successfully led inside the gates of Kabul Airport. The total number of these employees and their family members is 83 persons. Assisted by US troops, the group managed to get on a flight away from Kabul early this morning.

Today, on 27 August 2021, the President of the Republic approved the amendment to the Annex to 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 amendment will enter into force at the beginning of October.

Finland ended its relief efforts in Kabul as planned on Thursday 26 August. Both the Foreign Ministry’s relief team and the Defence Forces’ unit tasked with safeguarding the efforts have now left Afghanistan. We will continue to provide consular assistance through other means to the extent possible.

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.