Foreign Ministry's press releases

Finland will grant an additional three million euros in funding to the environmental projects of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership Support Fund. This announcement was made today by Hannele Pokka, Permanent Secretary of Finland’s Ministry of the Environment, at the tenth anniversary celebration of the NDEP in St. Petersburg.

The sauna diplomacy practised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland received this year’s Löylynhenki Prize (Steam Spirit Prize) granted by the Finnish Sauna Society on Monday, 13 June, in honour of the Finnish Sauna Day. “The sauna is an inseparable element of Finnish diplomacy throughout the world

Work on developing Finland’s country brand can now be followed via a newly launched website at www.maabrändi.fi. The site continues the work began by the Country Brand Delegation, led by Jorma Ollila, on the basis of the final report published in November 2010. The website is produced and financed by Finnfacts, the Finnish Tourist Board and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Finnish Border Guard, and the Finnish Immigration Service will jointly deploy Senior Border Guard Jussi Rautio as immigration liaison to New Delhi, India, from 1 July.

Committee against Torture gave its concluding observations on Finland

At infoDev’s 4th Global Forum on Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship, the World Bank Group is bringing together entrepreneurs, business incubator managers and government leaders from over 80 countries to learn from each other and help promote an enabling environment for innovation and entrepreneurship in developing countries.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen delivered the address for Finland at the OECD 50th Anniversary Meeting on 26 May. The central theme of the talk was the new development policy emphasizing the holistic nature and coherence of activities. Väyrynen stated that an even broader view is needed, one that would also include the development of industrialized countries.

On Tuesday, 24 May, about 150 representatives from 24 Caribbean countries and territories convened in Montego Bay, Jamaica, to attend an international conference on education. The purpose of the conference is to pass on experiences of countries that have the highest achievements in education, such as Finland, to be employed by authorities and schools of Caribbean countries.

The UN Committee against Torture presented about a hundred questions elaborating on Finland’s periodic report. Among other issues, the Committee was interested in prison administration, the conditions for persons detained by virtue of the Aliens Act, the situation and treatment of Roma, the tasks and work of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the accelerated procedure for consideration of asylum requests and measures taken to combat violence against women.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will chair the Finnish delegation in the annual Ministerial Council Meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris on 25-26 May 2011.