Foreign Ministry's press releases

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted EUR 470,000 in discretionary government transfers to civil society organisations’ (CSOs) Europe information. In addition, EUR 100,000 was granted to the provision of information relating to the European elections.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen will visit Washington DC on 11–12 February.

On Tuesday 12 February, Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Moscow and have a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

A working group consisting of development and education specialists proposes that Finland should adopt education as one of its development cooperation and development policy priorities and significantly increase its funding for the cause. Ministers Anne-Mari Virolainen and Sanni Grahn-Laasonen support the proposal. They have decided to set up a broad-based steering group to promote the working group's recommendations and to foster closer cooperation between operators in the field in Finland.

Minister Anne Berner will attend a meeting of Ministers for Nordic Cooperation in Reykjavik on 6–7 February 2019.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has appointed Elna Nykänen Andersson to serve as Press Officer at Finland's Embassy in Stockholm. The three-year term will start on 4 March 2019. She will transfer to the post from content agency OTW.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Washington DC on 5–8 February and attend a Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, hosted by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In addition, Minister Soini will have meetings with representatives of the administration and participate in the annual National Prayer Breakfast, hosted by members of the US Congress.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will participate in an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers (Gymnich) in Bucharest on 31 January–1 February. The topics on the agenda of the two-day meeting will be the EU's Eastern Partnership, China, Venezuela, and Syria.

The EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement will enter into force on 1 February 2019. Together the European Union and Japan form a trading zone of 635 million consumers and the agreement will cover nearly one third of the world’s total GDP.