Foreign Ministry's press releases

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has nominated reporter Jussi Seppälä, Licentiate in Social Sciences, as a fixed-term Press Officer to Finland's Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels as from 1 March.

Ángel Gurría, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), will visit Finland on 19-20 January. The Secretary-General, arriving to Finland at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen, will meet the highest state leaders and give a speech at the anniversary seminar assessing the meaning of Finland’s 40-year membership of the OECD.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs highly recommends that travellers, particularly those embarking on self-organised trips, report to the Ministry or a Finnish mission abroad before leaving Finland. In case of emergency, a Finnish mission can better assist those Finns who have registered their contact information with the mission. The travel safety services of the Ministry were showcased at the Matka 2009 fair.

Focus on the Economy and Technology 2009, the annual publication showcasing Finland’s strengths and attractions as a target for investments has come out even bigger and better than before.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb met on 12 January with Secretary General Luis Fernando Andrade Falla of the Association of Caribbean States in Helsinki. The two discussed possibilities to increase and deepen relations between Finland and the Caribbean states. There are promising possibilities for cooperation with the members of the Association of Caribbean States, especially in UN policy and, for instance, in connection with climate change and reforestation projects.

On Friday, 9 January, the President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed Finland's participation in the supporting action to the ISAF mission in order to hold elections in Afghanistan in 2009. Smooth running of the Afghan presidential and provincial council elections is important for Afghanistan’s stability and the advancement of democratic development in the country.

Finnish representations around the world treated 806,156 visa applications in total in 2008, which is 12% more than in the previous year (718,483). More than 90% of the applications (a total of 742,237) were processed in the four Finnish representations in Russia. 11,850 negative visa decisions were issued at the representations last year, a total of 1.5% of all applications. The representation issuing the most negative decisions was Finland's Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria (78%).

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen today decided to grant 500,000 euros from Finnish humanitarian aid funds for the work done by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to assist victims of the crisis in the Middle East. Finland’s support is granted to the ICRC through the Finnish Red Cross.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner of the current EU Presidency country France has called EU Foreign Ministers to an informal foreign policy meeting on Tuesday evening, 30 December, in Paris.

Finland condemns the escalation of violence in Gaza and urges the parties to calm down the situation. Finland is particularly worried about the rapid deterioration of the civilian living conditions in Gaza.