Foreign Ministry's press releases

Ambassador Heikki Talvitie, the Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, welcomed the Azerbaijani authorities’ stated determination to create conditions for the upcoming presidential election to be held as close to international standards as possible. “The 15 October election presents an important opportunity for Azerbaijan to demonstrate its commitment to the democratic reform process,” he said at the end of a two-day visit to the country.

I note with great satisfaction the decision by the Constitutional Court on the AK party. Decision is a positive sign and I encourage Turkey to continue reforms in line with European standards of democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

MFA has appointed new press and cultural counsellors to Finnish Embassies in Berlin and Stockholm.

Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, today, 28 July, condemned Sunday's bomb attacks in Istanbul.

In his speech given in Kukkolankoski on Sunday 27 of July, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen commented on the World Trade Organisation’s ministerial meeting taking place in Geneva, aiming at a breakthrough in the Doha Round of trade negotiations.

In a public statement, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen defends the temporary tax relief plan in the wood trade. He justifies the plan with the ongoing wood tariff negotiations.

Next Saturday’s visit to Finland by Elvira Nabiullina, Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Russia, was cancelled due to her busy working schedule. Minister Nabiullina and Foreign Trade and Development Minister Paavo Väyrynen will meet next time in the autumn.

The OSCE Special Envoy of the Finnish Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Heikki Talvitie, calls on authorities in the Republic of Moldova and Transdniestria to create and demonstrate political will to resolve the conflict.

The European Union welcomed the arrest of war crimes suspect, former Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic in Serbia. Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb sees this as an important step towards Serbian EU membership, but points out that not all Bosnian war crimes suspects of the 1990’s have been caught. Stubb welcomed Serbia’s accomplishment in the Karadzic case also in his role as the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, welcomed today the arrest of Bosnian Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic as an important step for justice and regional reconciliation.