Foreign Ministry's press releases

Ivica Dačić, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, will visit Finland on 9 October and meet with Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. In addition to bilateral relations between Finland and Serbia, the Foreign Ministers will discuss, among other issues, Serbia’s rapprochement with the EU, Western Balkan regional relations and cooperation, Serbia’s Chairmanship of the OSCE in the year 2015, and other topical foreign policy questions, such as the situation in Ukraine.

United States Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland will arrive for a visit in Finland in the evening of 9 October. She will meet with Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja on Friday, 10 October. The topics for discussion are bilateral and regional issues.

Alex Petriashvili, State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, will visit Finland on 8 October 2014. Minister Petriashvili will meet with Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka, and Speaker of Parliament Eero Heinäluoma.

The President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy convened on Friday 3 October 2014.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will visit Moscow on 6–7 October 2014. Tuomioja’s book Häivähdys punaista (A Delicate Shade of Pink) will be released then in Russian. While in Moscow, Tuomioja will attend the launch of his book as well as a history seminar organized by the Embassy of Finland.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos is visiting Finland on 1 to 3 October.

The meeting of the Global Health Security Agenda, a new partnership for the promotion of international health security, in Washington on 26 September will bring together over 200 experts from a total of 45 countries. Finland's representatives at the meeting will be Minister of Health and Social Services Susanna Huovinen and Permanent Secretary Päivi Sillanaukee from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and Under-Secretary of State Anne Sipiläinen from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

On 26 October, the President of the Republic appointed MP Sirpa Paatero, Counsellor of Preventive Substance Abuse Work, as Member of Government and assigned her as Minister for International Development at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and responsible for matters under the mandate of the Prime Minister’s Office. On the same occasion, the President of the Republic released upon request Pekka Haavisto from his responsibilities as Member of Government and Minister for International Development.

The most important results of the UN Climate Summit held on Tuesday, 23 September, were the extensive discussions on climate change within numerous sectors and operators in society, and the comprehensive understanding of the need for measures to tackle climate change. Organised on the initiative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the summit gathered together in New York over 100 heads of state and some 800 leaders from business, finance and civil society from around the world.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is granting 920,000 euros via the Finnish Red Cross for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent work to curb the Ebola epidemic. Finland has previously granted a total of 780,000 euros through WHO and the Finnish Red Cross for the work against Ebola.