Foreign Ministry's press releases

On Thursday 27 September, Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb had a meeting in Helsinki with Minister of Trade of Iraq Khairullah Hasan Babakr and an Iraqi trade delegation, who are on a three-day visit in Finland. During this visit, in addition to Minister Stubb, they will meet, for example, Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Jari Koskinen.

Foreign Minister of Macedonia Nikola Poposki will visit Finland on 30 September - 1 October. Poposki will have talks with Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, meet with Speaker of Parliament Eero Heinäluoma and give a lecture at the Aleksanteri Institute on the topic ”Macedonia’s road to the EU: is there light in the tunnel?”.

Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muižnieks visited Finland from 11 to 13. June. During his visit, he met with representatives of government, ministries, legality supervision, and civil society. In addition, the Commission made an on-site visit to housing units for older people run by the association Leevi ry.

Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb will make an export promotion trip to Kazakhstan from 2 to 5 October. The trip includes visits to Almaty, the economic centre of Kazakhstan, and to Astana, the capital. The minister will travel with a business delegation compiled by Finpro and comprising more than 70 corporate representatives.

The first high-level meeting of the General Assembly dedicated solely to the rule of law is taking place during the 67the UN General Assembly next Monday.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja and Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala met representatives of non-governmental organisations at consultations with NGOs, where the topics included the 67th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and Finnish priorities. The annual consultations aim at discussing Finnish goals in the UNGA with NGOs.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will participate in the opening week of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly on 24–28 September. The Finnish delegation, led by President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö, will also include Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala and Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson. This year, Finland’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council will be promoted at a high political level during the opening week of the General Assembly.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Finland’s national human rights situation was completed at Geneva during the 21st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on 19 September, when the plenary session of the Council adopted the UPR Working Group report on the review of the situation in Finland.

Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb will visit London on 19-20 September. The Finnish music exports promotion trip, organised together with Music Finland, aims at increasing exports of Finnish music to the UK by influencing the key practitioners in the music business, such as record companies, media and live music sector, and by promoting cooperation between Finnish music industry professionals and the local key people.