Foreign Ministry's press releases

Development Minister Sirpa Paatero has today signed a pledge of EUR 7.1 million in support for the UN Ebola Trust Fund through which UN agencies, led by WHO, are fighting against the spread of the disease in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka will visit Paris on a Team Finland trip on 22 October. Toivakka will participate in the international SIAL Food Exhibition, where Finland has is own Food from Finland pavilion.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja has appointed Pekka Haavisto, Member of Parliament, to serve as his Special Representative to African crisis areas. Haavisto continues in the position he held prior to his ministerial period. Haavisto’s activities for their part strengthen Finland’s contribution to international mediation and crisis prevention, which are also mentioned in the Government Programme.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja has appointed Counsellor of Foreign Affairs Tiina Jortikka-Laitinen as the Minister’s special representative for the work against Ebola. She starts in her new post immediately. Jortikka-Laitinen has previously served, for instance, as the Ambassador of Finland in Tunisia and as Ambassador in the Dialogue among Civilizations process.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council will convene in Luxembourg on 20 October. Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will represent Finland at the meeting. The topics for discussion by the Foreign Affairs Council are Iraq, Syria and ISIL, the Ebola epidemic, the situation in Ukraine, the Middle East peace process and Libya.

It is 20 years ago this autumn that Finland held its referendum on the EU. To mark the 20th anniversary of Finland’s EU referendum, Europe Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs organizes three seminars open to the public. The two previous seminars took place in Kuopio and Tampere.

Experts from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Finnish Transport Safety Agency Trafi and the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE met on Monday, 13 October at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The experts discussed the events that had occurred on the Baltic Sea and were reported in the press during the weekend. According to the news the Aranda, SYKE’s marine research vessel, encountered a Russian naval ship in the Baltic Sea near Gotland on two occasions in August and September.

The Cairo Conference on Palestine – Reconstructing Gaza was held on 12 October 2014. Minister for International Development Sirpa Paatero announced during her speech that for the period 2014–2017, Finland has at present committed to 23.35 million Euros in support to the occupied Palestinian Territory.

Development Minister Sirpa Paatero will take part in the donors conference on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, which will be held in Cairo on 12 October 2014. The objective of the conference is to engage the commitment of the international community to support the reconstruction of Gaza and the longer-range development of the Palestinian territory (2014–2017)

Finland ratified the UN’s Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on 8 October 2014.