Foreign Ministry's press releases

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen has decided to grant a donation of EUR 500,000 through the Finnish Red Cross for the relief work carried out by the Japanese Red Cross Society. The donation will be used, for instance, for acquisitions of medicines, water, food and supplies needed for daily hygiene.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has appointed Mikko Puustinen to the post of press counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in Beijing.

On March 24th in Helsinki, Finland and the United States signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” through which they will continue their cooperation in preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the Kyrgyz Republic.

On Thursday 24 March, the Government decided to propose to the President of the Republic three new appointments. The President of the Republic will appoint the Ambassadors in the presidential session on Friday 25 March.

On Wednesday, 23 March, the President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed the situation in Libya and the measures taken by the international community.

On Friday, 18 March, the President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed the situation in Libya.

Owing to the parliamentary elections, Katri Kulmuni, the press attaché to Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen, will be on leave of absence from 21 March to 17 April.

The Foreign Affairs Council of the EU will meet in Brussels on 21 March. The main topics of discussion are the situation in the EU’s southern neighbourhood, especially Libya and the European Union’s support to the region, and the situation in Japan. Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will represent Finland at the meeting.

The Embassy of Finland in Tokyo is transferring all its operations to Hiroshima on Friday, 18 March. This is done in order to ensure the embassy's operating capacity and possibilities to serve Finns in Japan. The measure is a precaution, done to secure the activities of the embassy in Japan under all circumstances. Of the EU countries, thus far Germany and Austria, among others, have made the same assessment of the situation.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has updated its travel bulletin on Japan on Thursday morning, 17 March. Finns are urged to withdraw from an area within an 80 kilometre radius of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs also recommends that Finns in the greater Tokyo area and to the north of the metropolis travel by land or train to the Nagoya–Kansai area or south of it.