Foreign Ministry's press releases

Mahdi Safari, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs, is visiting Finland and Estonia between 11 and 13 November.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet in Moscow on 11 November.

The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) will meet on 10 and 11 November in Brussels. The main themes of the meeting will be the preparation for the December European Council, the current situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the development of military capabilities and development financing.

The President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed Finland’s position on the new international Convention on cluster munitions on Friday 31 October. The meeting also discussed Finland’s participation in crisis management in Chad.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen stressed the importance of a rules based trade and investment system in cooperation between Finland, China and Russia, and in global cooperation, when he opened the two-day Finland – China – Russia Economic Forum in Helsinki on 30 October.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will attend the Informal Meeting of EU Foreign Ministers, the so-called Gymnich meeting, and the Ministerial Conference of the Union for the Mediterranean to be held in Marseille, France on 3–4 November.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen will travel to Moscow on Wednesday, 12 November to discuss topical issues with Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia. The finalised agenda of the visit will be announced later. Paavo Väyrynen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, will accompany Prime Minister Vanhanen to Moscow.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted 9.3 million euros in humanitarian assistance, in response to the needs caused by the world’s greatest humanitarian crises. The decision made by Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen supplements the decision to grant 52.2 million euros, made in spring 2008.

The Nordic trade ministers discussed the ongoing World Trade Organization negotiations at their meeting in Helsinki on 27 October. According to the ministers, the situation arising from the global financial crisis must be used to advantage to bring the WTO negotiations to conclusion.

Finland now accepts ordinary passports, as well as official and diplomatic passports, granted by Kosovo as official travel documents for trips to Finland.