Foreign Ministry's press releases

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet in Moscow on Friday, 25 April. It is the first meeting between the ministers.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Foreign Minister Stubb, expressed concern today over the decision of the Russian Federation to establish official ties with the de facto authorities of Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. He reiterated his full support for the existing negotiation mechanisms and regretted that they have not been fully utilized.

By decision of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted humanitarian aid appropriations for the first part of the year, totalling 52.2 million euros, to people suffering from the world’s crises. Finland’s entire humanitarian aid budget for 2008 totals 63.2 million euros.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb is concerned about the rise in discriminatory acts and expressions of intolerance throughout the OSCE region in recent years.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will take part in the meeting of Nordic foreign ministers in Stockholm on 17–18 April. The meeting will begin on 17 April with the foreign ministers’ working dinner, where Nordic cooperation on security policy in neighbouring regions will be discussed.

On Monday 14 April, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb will travel to Stockholm, where he will meet Foreign Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt.

The OSCE needs to focus on the issues where it can make a real difference, including solving the region’s frozen conflicts, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, newly appointed Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, told the Organization’s Permanent Council today.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen stressed in Kirkenes that the North, and especially the Barents Region, has the potential for great economic development. Above all this is linked with the rising prices for raw materials and energy caused by globalisation and growth of the tourist industry. The area has vast oil, natural gas and mineral reserves and major renewable energy potential.

Finland, as a partner nation, will participate in the NATO Crisis Management Exercise, CMX08, on 16-22 April. The exercise is designed to practice crisis management procedures, including planning and consultations between NATO and its partner nations, as well as cooperation on a national level. The exercise will cover only the early stages of planning, and no real-life forces will be deployed.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a totally new mechanism established by the UN Human Rights Council for reviewing human rights in UN Member States once every four years. Human rights in Finland are discussed today, on 9 April, in the afternoon at the first session of the UPR working group in Geneva.