Foreign Ministry's press releases

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai and his entourage are visiting Finland from 24 to 27 September. During their stay they will visit Finnish enterprises and meet representatives of business and industry. The Deputy Prime Minister’s entourage includes representatives of the Vietnamese Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka will meet with Roberto Azevêdo, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva on 24 September. The situation regarding the Doha Round negotiations to liberalize trade following the Ministerial Conference in Bali will be discussed at the meeting.

A series of Pure Finland events is launched today in Beijing, presenting Finland widely for Chinese target groups. The first event features Fiskars (Iittala), Marja Kurki, Reima and Suunto.

Sospeter Muhongo, Minister of Energy and Minerals of Tanzania, will visit Finland from 16 to 19 September to learn about the Finnish energy and mining sector.

The budget for 2015 proposes a total of 1,224 million euros for the administrative branch of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Finland grants 11.45 million euros in general support of the activities of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

The Council of Europe is implementing a three-million euro assistance programme to promote investigation of the human rights violations that have occurred in Ukraine, to strengthen the trust of national minorities, to carry out constitutional reforms in accordance with Council of Europe standards, to reform the electoral law and election monitoring, to develop local democracy, and to develop the participation possibilities of civil society.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja is travelling to Brussels on Wednesday, 10 September 2014 and to Tallinn on Thursday and Friday, 11–12 September 2014.

Minister for Nordic Cooperation Lenita Toivakka will participate in the Meeting of the Nordic Ministers for Cooperation to be held Copenhagen, Denmark, on 4 September.

Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of WFP, the World Food Programme, is visiting Finland on 3 and 4 September 2014. WFP, the UN agency responsible for food assistance, is the world’s largest preventer of hunger and malnutrition, a supplier of food assistance and the second greatest target of Finland’s humanitarian financing.