Foreign Ministry's press releases

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs promotes travel safety and has its own stand in the Comprehensive Security 2015 Trade Fair in the Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre on 4–6 September

Minister for Foreign AffairsTimo Soini will participate in the Nordic and Baltic Foreign Ministers' NB8 meeting in Copenhagen on 2–3 September 2015.

Nina Suomalainen has been selected to lead the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Skopje. The OSCE Chairperson in Office, Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić of Serbia, has appointed the new Head of Mission as from 7 September 2015.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will participate in a Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience (GLACIER) in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A., on 31 August. The GLACIER Conference, which is organised by the U.S.A., will bring together foreign ministers from the Member States and observer parties of the Arctic Council, as well as experts in Arctic matters. The conference will be hosted by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Team Finland network is developing its domestic services. The aim is to simplify companies’ access to the network’s services and to improve the smoothness of service. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä has today appointed a new Steering Group for the network, with Risto Siilasmaa as Vice Chairman.

Finland is about to launch its first bilateral development cooperation programme in Eritrea. It is also an example of how the root causes of emigration can be addressed in the country of origin through development cooperation.

Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria Meglena Kuneva will visit Finland from 26 to 27 August. During her visit, she will meet with Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini, Minister of Justice and Employment Jari Lindström and Minister of Economic Affairs Olli Rehn. Kuneva has served as the first Bulgarian EU Commissioner.

Next week will be full of interesting discussions, when the Heads of Finland's diplomatic and consular missions abroad gather to their annual meeting at the Annexe to the Parliament Building (Pikkuparlamentti) in Helsinki. The meeting can be followed on Twitter using the hashtag #slsk15.

Finland granted EUR 400,000 on 17 August in humanitarian aid to the victims of the flooding and landslides in Myanmar. The support will be channelled to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC) via the Finnish Red Cross. The support will be granted from Finland's development cooperation appropriations earmarked for humanitarian aid purposes.