Foreign Ministry's press releases

EU development ministers will gather for a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 26 October. Finland's representative in the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs started the preparation of a Report on Finnish Foreign and Security Policy in accordance with the Government Programme on 19 October 2015. The guidelines for the preparation of the Report were set by the President of the Republic and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy in their meeting on 18 September 2015.

In its autumn distribution of humanitarian assistance, Finland has granted 4.2 million euros to the work of international organisations for the crises in Yemen and the Central African Republic. Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka decided about the matter on 21 October.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will make his first visit to Berlin on 21 October and meet the German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Lenita Toivakka will travel to Jordan on 17–19 October. The purpose of the trip is to explore the impacts of the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts and of ISIL and to learn about the management of the refugee situation in Jordan.

The Nordic Council Session will take place this year in Reykjavik, Iceland on 27–29 October.

Ms Laura Londén of Finland has been appointed to serve as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director for Management of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will hold a round table discussion with Muslim youth on Finland's foreign policy, radicalisation and violent extremism. The event will be organised in the House of the Estates on Friday 16 October.

The XV Session of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) will be organised in Oulu on 14–15 October. The BEAC member countries and the Barents Regional Council as well as their central stakeholders will be represented at the meeting. The meeting will be chaired by Foreign Minister Timo Soini.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on 14 October 2015. The Ministers will discuss in connection with the Ministerial Meeting of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) in Oulu on 14–15 October. The topics of their meeting will be the situation in Ukraine and Syria as well as other international questions. The Ministers will also discuss bilateral matters between Finland and Russia and regional cooperation.