Foreign Ministry's press releases

The US Department of State has confirmed that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Finland on 21 April. The visit will take place at the invitation of Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb.

The eleventh joint meeting of the Finnish-Russian Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation takes place in Helsinki on 14 April. The agenda of the meeting, chaired by Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen and Minister of Economic Development and Trade Elvira Nabiullina of Russia, includes the effects of the financial crisis and topical bilateral questions such as innovation cooperation and forest-sector investment prospects.

On Friday, 9 April, the President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed Finland’s crisis management participation in 2010 and 2011.

On Thursday 8 April, the Government set up an Advisory Board on Arctic Affairs to support and monitor Finland’s activities in the Arctic region and the coordination of Finnish policy in relation to it. In addition, the Advisory Board is responsible for raising awareness about Arctic issues and for forging connections with corresponding bodies in other countries.

Gregory Vashadze, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia, will visit Finland on Thursday, 8 April. Foreign Minister Vashadze will have talks with Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, Minister of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors and Pertti Salolainen, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Finnish Parliament.

Paavo Väyrynen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, will make an export promotion trip to Novosibirsk, Russia on 7–9 April. Minister Väyrynen will be accompanied by a 15-person business delegation.

Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin of Ethiopia is visiting Finland on 6–8 April. His visit is the first by a foreign minister of Ethiopia since Foreign Minister Berhanu Bayih visited Finland in 1989.

Finland will provide a total of 12.7 million euros for Haitian reconstruction in the next few years. Under-Secretary of State Ritva Koukku-Ronde of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs announced Finland’s support at the conference on reconstruction of Haiti held in New York on 31 March.

By decision of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted 47.3 million Euros from the early 2010 humanitarian aid appropriations to the victims of crises and natural disasters in the world. The current sum is in addition to the 5.4 million Euros allocated in January for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. The total humanitarian aid budget for 2010 is 69.7 million Euros.

Finland has granted 400,000 euros to the Beirut Regional Office of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to support the work of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues in North Africa and the Middle East in 2010–2011.