Foreign Ministry's press releases

On Wednesday, 25 February, the President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed Finland's participation in the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT).

Finnish authorities on the whole have good means for freezing terrorists’ funds in Finland, should such funds be found in Finnish financial institutions. There is no immediate need for amendments to legislation. These are the conclusions of the working group appointed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which submitted its report to Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb on 24 February.

“The EU Member States gave their staunch support for development of the Eastern Partnership,” Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said at the EU meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels on 23 February. In addition to the Eastern Partnership, Afghanistan and the Western Balkans were on the agenda at the External Relations session of the General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting.

The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) will meet in Brussels on 23 and 24 February. Main themes of the meeting include the situation in Afghanistan, the Middle East peace process and the preparations for the March European Council. Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and Minister of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors will represent Finland at the meeting.

Finland's Environment and Foreign Ministries announced today that the country will invest three million euros into the NEFCO Carbon Fund (NeCF). Finland's investment will be earmarked for the acquisition of carbon credits that are generated after the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period.

The Court of First Instance of the European Communities will make an official visit to Finland on 22-24 February.

Under Secretary of State for Trade Policy Pekka Huhtaniemi will make an export promotion trip to Panama and Colombia on 18-24 February. The Under Secretary will be accompanied by a business delegation of 17 people, representing, for instance, energy, metal, environmental, wellbeing, communications, security, logistics and financing business areas. The business delegation will be chaired by Director Sampo Suvisaari from Wärtsilä.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will give a round of talks at Finnish universities, starting at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi on 16 February. The talks, open to the general public, will focus on topical trade and development policy issues. Besides the University of Lapland, Väyrynen will visit the universities of Jyväskylä (18 February), Turku (9 March) and Tampere (15 April) during this spring. The intention is to continue the round in autumn.

On Thursday, 12 February the Government approved the plan for the use of appropriations for neighbouring area cooperation in 2009. A total of about 21.2 million euros has been reserved for neighbouring area cooperation this year; this sum is divided so that the share of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is about 19.5 million euros and that of other ministries about 1.7 million euros.

Seven high-level representatives of the Namibian regional and local administration are making a five-day educational trip to Finland on 9-13 February, learning about the activities of municipal and provincial administration and organisations looking after their interests. The delegation is chaired by Jerry Ekandjo, minister responsible for Namibia’s local and regional administration, who will meet his Finnish colleague Mari Kiviniemi during the visit.