Foreign Ministry's press releases

On 8 January, Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen visited Kyiv, Ukraine, where she met President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha, and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk. This was Minister Valtonen's first visit to a country as Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Finland chairs the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) in 2025.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Moldova on 9 January in her role as Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Finland takes over the OSCE Chairpersonship with a focus on upholding OSCE principles, supporting Ukraine, and strengthening the Organization’s resilience in order to address complex security challenges.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted EUR 10 million for the human rights work of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) for 2025–2026. The funding promotes Finland’s foreign and security policy and development policy objectives.

At the presidential session on 19 December, the President of the Republic appointed two new non-resident Ambassadors.

Finland is preparing a country pavilion for the next UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025. The Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs support the preparation of the pavilion in cooperation with companies, municipalities, universities and non-governmental organisations.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has awarded EUR 2 million in general grants to Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs) linked with the UN for their basic operations and for their development communications and globalisation education in 2025–2027. Grants were awarded to five CSOs.

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) serves as the primary multi-stakeholder forum for international digital policy and internet governance. Finland, alongside the Netherlands and Germany, has reaffirmed its commitment to the IGF with a combined contribution of approximately 550,000 Euros in 2024.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is continuing to strengthen the network of Finnish missions abroad by opening a third Consulate General in the United States. The new Consulate General will be located in Houston, Texas.