Current affairs

Last Friday, STX Finland Oy and the Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources signed a contract for the construction of a fisheries research vessel. The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs is supporting the project’s realization by granting about 19 million euros in interest subsidy. According to Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen, protection of the Namibian marine ecosystem as well as sustainable use and monitoring are important to Namibia and globally.

”Finland operates as an intermediary in a regional project to support energy partnerships between various players,” says counsellor Katriina Koivisto, describing the three-year-long project launched this year in eight East African and Southern African countries.

The Baltic Sea Action Summit that was held in Helsinki on Wednesday, 10 February was a success in the opinion of the arrangers. The summit attracted a large and high-level group of participants to Finlandia Hall to tell about their commitments to protect the Baltic Sea. The summit was hosted by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and Mr Ilkka Herlin, the Chairman of the Baltic Sea Action Group, who together convened the summit.

Africa’s strategic importance is constantly increasing. The continent should not be considered merely from the perspective of development policy but also from wider viewpoints of security and trade, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb emphasised on 8 February at the launch of the policy paper “Africa in Finland’s Foreign Policy”.

Erkki Nghimtina, the Minister of Mines and Energy of Namibia, will visit Finland on 21-23 October at the invitation of Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen.