Foreign Ministry's press releases

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksei Kudrin failed on Thursday to reach a solution in negotiations to the dispute over export duties levied on roundwood. The European Commission, however, is continuing its efforts to find a solution, or at least to convince Russia to abandon the idea of new increases.

Before Easter, on 20 March, the World Food Programme (WFP) published an urgent appeal for additional donations to alleviate the world’s food situation. The need for additional assistance stems from a shortfall in the WFP budget, which had reached about USD 500 million by the end of February. This shortfall is caused by the soaring prices of food and fuel, which are now at their highest levels in decades.

Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva will participate in the Lennart Meri Conference, to be held in Tallinn on 29-30 March, under the theme

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen will visit Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua from 30 March to 4 April. Minister Väyrynen will be travelling in Mexico, to promote exports and internationalisation, from 31 March to 1 April. A broad-ranging business delegation of more than 30 people. The chairman of the business delegation will be Harri Kerminen, CEO of Kemira Group.

Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva will meet Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in Helsinki on Monday 31 March.

Dr. Hans Blix, Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), is visiting Helsinki on 26 March. His programme included a meeting with Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva. In the afternoon, Dr. Blix gave a lecture at the event “The Challenge of Freeing the World from Weapons of Mass Destruction” organised by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva, appointed today Kimmo Kiljunen, a Finnish member of parliament, as his Special Envoy on election-related issues. The Special Envoy will gather views on elections and election observation, and examine possibilities to develop the OSCE’s election-related activities.

Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva will attend the Informal Meeting of EU Foreign Ministers, the Gymnich meeting, to be held at the Brdo Congress Centre in Slovenia on 28–29 March.

Government Communications Unit Press Release 81/2008 25 March 2008. On Tuesday, 25 March, the meeting of the President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy made a decision on Finland’s accession to a project to develop Strategic Airlift Capability, SAC.

Srgjan Kerim, President of the United Nations General Assembly, will visit Finland on 27–28 March.