Foreign Ministry's press releases

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka will visit Geneva from 29 February to 1 March 2016.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini and Minister of the Interior Petteri Orpo will meet Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs of Greece Nikos Xydakis on Friday 26 February.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Australia and New Zealand from 29 February to 5 March 2016. He will visit Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne as well as Auckland in New Zealand.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will attend the meeting of the General Affairs Council in Brussels on Tuesday 16 February. The focus of the meeting is on preparations for the European Council, which will be convening the same week.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise a series of public events together with local partners of cooperation. The theme of the tour of events will be the relations between Finland, the EU and Russia.

The EU Foreign Ministers will convene at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on 15 February. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini. The discussion points on the agenda will be Moldova, Belarus, climate diplomacy and Syria. Additionally, the situation in Lebanon, including the effects of the Syria conflict and international support to Lebanon, will be discussed.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Kiev, Ukraine, on 16–17 February. Minister Soini and Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin will hold bilateral discussions on Wednesday.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka will travel to Oslo on 8–9 February to promote Finland's Arctic expertise and Finland's strengths as a target of investments.

Foreign Minister Timo Soini strongly condemns the missile launch of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) on 7 February 2016. The launch of a missile reportedly carrying a satellite continues North Korea's series of violations against international agreements, the most recent of which was a nuclear test on 6 January.

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä will head a Team Finland visit to India on 12‒14 February 2016. The aim of the official visit is to strengthen relations between Finland and India and promote trade and economic cooperation.