Foreign Ministry's press releases

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb is visiting Stockholm on 23–24 June and will take part in the joint meeting of the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish foreign ministers.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will take part in the Annual Ministerial Review sessions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York on 28–29 June.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will visit Estonia on Monday, 21 June. His host will be Foreign Minister Urmas Paet. In addition to the meeting with Foreign Minister Paet, Stubb will meet in Tallinn with President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

On 16 June the Embassy of Finland in Moscow organized a round table discussion where Finnish experts and representatives of the Russian media participated. The Russian journalists heard thorough explanations of Finnish family law, such as child welfare and the related taking children into custody and guardianship issues, which have recently figured prominently in the Russian media in connection with Finnish–Russian marriages.

Foreign Minister Stubb proposes an exclusive summit for the Arctic issues. According to Stubb, an Arctic summit would allow taking into account the wider significance of the region in the future. “This Arctic summit would be the first of its kind. It would give new direction to the Arctic cooperation and become a milestone in the development of the Arctic Council,

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen has granted 400.000 euros in humanitarian aid to help the victims of the conflict and to alleviate human suffering. The aid, intended for financial and material aid and human resources, will be channelled through the Finnish Red Cross.

Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki of the Palestinian National Authority is visiting Finland on 16 June at the invitation of Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb.

The Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) unanimously adopted the definition of a crime of aggression and the associated jurisdictional conditions as an amendment to the Rome Statute after over a decade of negotiations. The adopted provisions will be implemented in 2017 at the earliest.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen proposed a comprehensive global strategy for the EU in the EU Development Ministers meeting on 14 June in Luxembourg. Väyrynen expressed his concern for the efforts to reduce development policy as a part of a narrow definition of foreign and defence policy.

Jukka Savolainen, who works in the Ministry of the Interior as Assistant Department Director at the Finnish Border Guard Headquarters, has been selected to head EUPOL, the European Police Mission in Afghanistan.