Foreign Ministry's press releases

Tuomas Rajala has been appointed Minister of European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka's new Press Attaché. He will serve as Acting Press Attaché for the duration of Miika Tomi's leave of absence from 23 March to 20 April 2015.

Finland has started to provide support for the development of early childhood education in Myanmar. Minister for International Development Sirpa Paatero learned about the implementation model during her visit to Myanmar.

Minister of European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka will lead a business delegation on a Team Finland trade mission to Mexico from 23 to 24 March in order to promote Finnish maritime industry and ICT and education sector exports in the growing markets of Mexico. Minister Toivakka will move to Mexico from the United States where she is currently on a trade mission with a business delegation to promote Finnish cleantech expertise.

The Adoption Act of 2012 tightened the conditions for adoption. The purpose is to prevent risks associated with independent adoptions, such as child trafficking. The aim is also to ensure that a child actually requires international adoption.

Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka will travel to the United States to promote the exports of Finnish cleantech enterprises. The Team Finland trade mission will be in Los Angeles and Palo Alto from 18 to 21 March to market Finnish expertise in an area that may well be the world’s most significant concentration of clean energy, financing and research.

Minister for International Development Sirpa Paatero will visit Myanmar on 17–19 March. The purpose of Minister Paatero's visit is to promote bilateral relations between Finland and Myanmar as well as development cooperation in line with the country programme published in January.

Finland will donate EUR 46.4 million in humanitarian aid to the world’s worst crisis areas. The aid, granted by a decision of Minister for International Development Sirpa Paatero on 13 March, will be directed to acute emergency situations in Syria and neighbouring areas, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Ukraine. Efforts will also be made to alleviate human suffering in countries where protracted crisis situations exist, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Yemen

The EU Foreign Affairs Council will convene in Brussels on 16 March. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Erkki Tuomioja, will represent Finland at the meeting.

Ministers for Nordic Cooperation decided in their meeting on 11 March to cease until further notice the Nordic Council of Ministers’ activities in North-West Russia, which have continued for 20 years.

The President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed the current situation in Ukraine on Thursday 12 March 2015.