Foreign Ministry's press releases

On 22-24 March, Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb will host a high-level informal meeting, Lapland Retreat 2013, in Saariselkä, Finland. Discussions at the informal meeting will focus on the future of Europe. The intention is to bring European leaders together to discuss issues concerning the future of Europe and the European Union in an informal and leisurely way.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Montenegro Igor Lukšić will visit Finland on 6 March at the invitation of Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja.

Director General of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Mr. Tero Varjoranta, has been designated as the next Deputy Director General for Safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), will visit Finland on 5–6 March at the invitation of Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. In addition, he will meet President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö and Speaker of the Finnish Parliament Eero Heinäluoma.

Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala will travel to Morocco and Tunisia on 4-8 March. The purpose of the trip is to get acquainted with the current situation and the democratic development in these countries and to review the cooperation between Finland and these countries. Women’s rights are one of the special themes of the visit. During her visit, Minister Hautala will meet ministers and civil society representatives.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will visit Latvia and Estonia on Monday 11 February.

The telephone numbers of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs changed on 5 March 2013 because of the new integrated phone numbering adopted in the Finnish state administration. The new call number to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is 0295 350 000; for calls from abroad +358 295 350 000 must be used. Calls to the old number are redirected to the new one. The emergency number for calls out of office hours remains unchanged: +358 9 1605 5555.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja will participate in the joint meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Baltic and Nordic states (Nordic-Baltic Eight, NB8) and the Visegrad Group Countries (V4) on Wednesday 20 February 2013 in Gdańsk, Poland.

The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union will meet in Brussels on 18 February. The agenda for the meeting includes the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood, the Middle East peace process, Iraq, Mali, and the EU’s Eastern Partnership. The nuclear test carried out by North Korea on 12 February is also on the agenda. Finland will be represented at the meeting by Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja.

On Friday 15 February, the President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed Finland's participation in the EU's military training mission in Mali (EUTM Mali). The aim of the mission is to train and advise the Malian Armed Forces. Finland will contribute a maximum of 12 soldiers to posts in mission headquarters and in training team. The training is to begin in April.