Foreign Ministry's press releases

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will make a one-day visit to Stockholm on 8 July. During the visit, he will meet Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson and Minister for European Union Affairs Cecilia Malmström.

Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Communities, will issue his Opinion on the Commission’s suit against Finland on Tuesday 7 July.

Ambassador Reza Nazarahari, the Iranian ambassador to Finland, was summoned today, 3 July, to the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs owing to the detention of staff of the British embassy to Teheran. The summoning of envoys was a jointly decided EU measure, and Iranian envoys were summoned in other EU capitals as well.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will meet Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Rita Lau on Thursday, 2 July. The Minister and Secretary will discuss the bilateral commerce and trade relations between Finland and Hong Kong and the measures for coping with the international financial and economic crisis.

Today, on 29 June, Finland and the Special Court for Sierra Leone signed and agreement between them concerning the execution of sentences pronounced by the Special Court. The agreement was signed in The Hague by Finnish Ambassador to the Netherlands Mikko Jokela and Deputy Registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone Binta Mansaray.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will participate in the informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers to be held in Corfu, Greece, on 27-28 June.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen considered it important that an extensive consensus on future activity was reached at the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development. Väyrynen points out that the conference in New York concentrated on the impact of the financial crisis on developing countries. The reform of the financial system is handled primarily under the auspices of the World Bank Group.

Ambassador Reza Nazarahari, the Iranian ambassador to Finland, was summoned today, 23 June, to the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs owing to the aftermath of the Iranian Presidential elections. Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb received Ambassador Nazarahari and stated Finland’s unreserved condemnation concerning use of violence by the authorities. Minister Subb made an appeal for a peaceful settlement of the situation and the implementation of freedom of speech and opinion.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will participate in the high-level UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis in New York on 25 June. Väyrynen will chair the Finnish delegation and deliver an address at the general debate of the conference.

Finland will participate in the plenary meeting of the international Holocaust organisation in Oslo, Norway, on 22-25 June.