Foreign Ministry's press releases

Periodic review of Finland’s human rights situation was completed in the regular session of the UN Human Rights Council on 9 June, where a one-hour dialogue ended by adopting the recommendations and conclusions presented for Finland. The Finnish delegation was led by State Secretary Teija Tiilikainen of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Three Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict met with Chairman-in-Office, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb on Monday in Helsinki. Minister Stubb expressed his full support to the work of the Minsk Group Co-Chairmen.

Ambassador Alpo Rusi has been appointed to continue as a member of the Cabinet staff of the President of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly with the title of Ambassador until September 2009. Rusi’s current term in the UN will come to an end at the end of August 2008.

Turkmenistan's active co-operation with the OSCE is crucial for promoting stability in the region and strengthening the country’s own reform process, said the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, in Ashgabad today. Stubb met President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in the port city of Turkmenbashi, and the Chairperson of the Parliament (Mejlis), Akja Nurberdiyeva, in Ashgabad.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will visit St. Petersburg on 6–7 June, to attend the 12th International Economic Forum. The forum participants will include business and political leaders from all over the world. The opening speech will be given by President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will visit Germany on 10 June and will meet with his German colleague, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will travel to Tallinn on Monday, 9 June to attend the joint trilateral Baltic Sea meeting between Finland, Sweden and Estonia. The meeting will be hosted by Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet. Minister for European Union Affairs Cecilia Malmström will represent Sweden.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen attended the annual ministerial meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris on 5 June. At the session dealing with trade negotiations, Väyrynen emphasised that completely free agricultural trade is not the solution to the world’s food problems.

Uzbekistan is an important partner for regional stability, and the country's active participation in the OSCE would be mutually beneficial, said the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb in Tashkent today.  

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen took part on 4 June in the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy arranged by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome. Väyrynen delivered a statement on behalf of Finland, stressing that it is finally time to move from words to deeds in order to solve the food crisis and combat climate change.