Foreign Ministry's press releases

Finland is joining the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) new Future Carbon Fund, which was launched at the Climate Conference in Poznan on Wednesday, 10 December. Finland's contribution to the fund will be 20 milion US dollars. As a whole the fund is expected to attract investments up to 200 million US dollars from both public and private sectors.

The failure of governments to create equal education opportunities means that millions of children and young people are deprived of the chance to rise from poverty, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO states in its newly released report.

On 10 December, Finland and South Africa signed a three-year agreement on support for bioscience networking via the BioFISA programme. BioFISA (The Finnish-Southern African Partnership Programme to strengthen the Southern African Network for Biosciences) is a co-operation programme with the Ministry of Science and Technology of South Africa and Nepad, the Economic Partnership for Africa's Development.

The European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) started to implement its mandate in the whole of Kosovo on 9 December. EULEX is the largest civilian crisis management operation for the European Union – and also for Finland – to date.

On Wednesday 10 December, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, accompanied by Pertti Torstila, Secretary of State, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, will attend the Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo where President Martti Ahtisaari will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen will also participate in the prize ceremony as well as the Nobel dinner to be organised later on Wednesday.

The recent events in Congo were among the topics discussed at the meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council, held by the EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. “It is largely a question of the EU’s credibility, if the Union wants to be a global actor in security and defence policy as well. If the EU combat forces are not used in Congo, where then would they be used,” Foreign Minister Stubb said to Finnish journalists in Brussels.

Louis Michel, European Commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, will visit Helsinki on Tuesday 9 December at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen.

The spirit of Helsinki has revitalized the OSCE, and the meeting of foreign ministers gave new impetus to discussions on European security challenges, said the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, at the close of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on Friday, 5 December.

The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) will meet on 8 December in Brussels. The main theme of the meeting will be the preparation of the December European Council. Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and Minister of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors will attend the Council meeting.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, called on the 50 foreign ministers attending the OSCE Ministerial Council to work together to strengthen the Organization at a crucial time.