Foreign Ministry's press releases

Minister for International Development Sirpa Paatero and Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen will visit New York and Washington from 9 to 12 November, accompanied by a large Finnish business delegation. The participating Finnish enterprises are highly knowledgeable and experienced players in the development and crisis business.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will visit London on Monday, 3 November. Tuomioja will deliver the keynote speech at the International Parliamentary Seminar on the Arms Trade Treaty.

The Government today approved the Human Rights Report for submission to Parliament. The report assesses both international human rights activities and the implementation of fundamental and human rights in Finland. Its predecessor, the Government Report on the Human Rights Policy of Finland, was submitted to Parliament in 2009.

The European Union has appointed Kirsi Henriksson, M.A., to the position of Deputy Head of the European Union EUCAP Sahel Mali civilian crisis management mission starting from 1 November 2014.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is making changes to Finland’s network of diplomatic missions as part of the central government’s savings. The changes arise from decisions to cut the Ministry’s appropriations for operating expenses. The embassies of Finland in Luxembourg, Bratislava (Slovakia) and Ljubljana (Slovenia) will be closed by the end of 2015.

Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East UNRWA will visit Finland on 30–31 October.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will participate in the ministerial level Conference on the Syrian Refugee Situation being held in Berlin on Tuesday, 28 October The conference is chaired by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier together with Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd Müller and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.

In its autumn distribution of humanitarian aid, Finland has granted 15.7 million euros for the worst crisis sites. Many of these targets are seriously underfunded and have gone unnoticed because of other crises ongoing at the same time. Development Minister Sirpa Paatero made a decision on the matter on the international United Nations Day, 24 October.

Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Iceland, will visit Finland on 27 October and discuss the possibilities for cooperation in order to increase trade between our two countries together with Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka. There is potential, among others, in tourism, the energy sector, Arctic cooperation, the IT sector and in the fields of education and design.

The 66th Session of the Nordic Council and the associated ministerial meetings will take place in Stockholm on 27–30 October.