Foreign Ministry's press releases

Representatives from OSCE participating States will convene for an Expert Seminar on Electronic Voting in Helsinki on 26-27 October. The seminar is hosted by Finland, which is the current OSCE Chairmanship.

A meeting of Northern Dimension foreign ministers will be held in St Petersburg on 28 October. Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will represent Finland at the meeting. In addition, he will deliver an address at the Graduate School of Management. In line with the principle of reciprocal hosting, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation are organising the meeting, in cooperation with the City of St Petersburg.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will attend the meeting of Nordic Ministers for Foreign Trade to be held in Helsinki on Monday 27 October. The meeting will be chaired by Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade Ewa Björling, since Sweden is currently acting as the President of the Nordic Council.

On Monday 27 October, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will attend the Nordic Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to be held in Helsinki, this time chaired by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

The 16th OSCE Ministerial Council will be held at the Helsinki Fair Centre, Finland, on 4 and 5 December 2008. The event will be held at the invitation of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. Finland holds the chairmanship of the OSCE in 2008.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Stubb condemns the violent act against the Turkish Embassy that took place on 21 October and assures that Finland has a very serious attitude towards the obligation, laid down in the rules of international law, to ensure the safety of foreign missions and their staff in Finland.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen stresses the application of new instruments in Finland’s development cooperation. “In Namibia the new means of our development cooperation have been received extremely well, and they have yielded positive results.” This came out when Väyrynen met with Nahas Angula, Prime Minister of Namibia, during his visit to Namibia on 16–17 October.

The situation arising from the international financial crisis must be used to advantage in the ongoing WTO agreement negotiations, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen stated at a seminar arranged by the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK in Helsinki.

Minister Paavo Väyrynen is satisfied with the development cooperation carried out in Mozambique. Väyrynen’s visit to Mozambique on 14–16 October focused on development cooperation, but Finland’s trade relations with Mozambique were also promoted during the trip. “On the basis of what I saw and heard, I can state that our development cooperation in Mozambique has achieved results. I am especially pleased with our programme cooperation in agriculture,

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Tuesday,14 October to discuss Wednesday’s diplomatic-level discussions on Georgia.