Foreign Ministry's press releases

A seminar “Preparing for the First Elections - Women’s Political Empowerment in Libya” will be held in Tripoli, Libya with the funding of Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs on 15-16 May. The seminar is organised by The Voice of Libyan Women and Political Parties of Finland for Democracy, Demo Finland.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will visit St. Petersburg on 17 May. Tuomioja will participate in the 20th anniversary celebration of the Finnish Institute in St. Petersburg. During his trip the Foreign Minister will also meet with representatives of civil society organisations.

Under a decision issued by Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will allocate 1.9 million euros in humanitarian aid to the victims of the crises in the Sahel region and Syria. In addition, one million euros will be granted in support of the World Health Organisation humanitarian programme.

The facilitator for the conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction, Under-Secretary of State Jaakko Laajava reported to the States Parties of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at their meeting in Vienna on 8 May 2012.

Finland has submitted the seventh periodic report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the execution of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The reporting period is from October 2007 to September 2011.

On Friday 11 May, the President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed Finland's participation in the NATO meetings to be held in Chicago on 20-21 May. Finland will attend the NATO Summit on Afghanistan and the NATO meeting with partners. The Finnish delegation will be led by the President of the Republic.

Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala will attend the EU Foreign Affairs Council Meeting of Development Ministers in Brussels on 14 May. The meeting agenda includes increasing the impact of EU development policy and budget support, a report on the EU’s official development assistance funds in 2011, the situation in Burma and the development cooperation to be launched there, and the UN Rio+20 Conference in June.

The EU Foreign Ministers will gather for a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on 14 May. Finland will be represented at the meeting by Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. The meeting agenda will include Afghanistan, the Middle East peace process, the situation in the Southern neighbourhood of the Union, Russia, Ukraine and preparations for the EU–Mexico Summit.

Foreign Minister of Cyprus Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis will visit Finland on 10 May on the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja.

On 2 May, the government discussed Finland’s action plan on external economic relations which is to promote employment and support the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Minister Alexander Stubb said that the action plan was particularly topical: