The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has considered the periodic report of Finland on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination in 2015. The Committee published its conclusion in Geneva, Switzerland, on 12 May.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Hekmat Karzai will visit Finland on 15 May. The visit programme includes political consultations between Afghanistan and Finland. Deputy Foreign Minister Karzai will meet Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini and representatives from other ministries. He will also meet Afghans living in Finland.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council will meet in Brussels on 15 May. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini. The topics on the Council’s agenda will include the implementation of the EU Global Strategy in the area of security and defence, the Eastern Partnership, EU-Africa relations, and the situation in the Horn of Africa.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen will attend a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on 11 May.

The European Committee of Social Rights published a decision on 9 May stating that the minimum level of social security benefits is insufficient in Finland for over-45-year-old persons who have been laid off and who receive labour market subsidy and general housing allowance.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will visit Washington, D.C., in the United Sates on 8–10 May, on his way to the Arctic Council meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Finland’s Chairmanship in the Arctic Council, participation in security sector training cooperation in Iraq, and Russia and Ukraine discussed at the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs coordinates the activities in collaboration with other ministries and various stakeholders.

Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), visits Finland on Wednesday 3 May, on invitation of the Minister of Agriculture and the Environment Kimmo Tiilikainen.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini will attend the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, on 10–11 May.