A new operator carrying the working title Business Finland will gather all services related to the promotion of innovation funding, exports, investments and tourism under one roof.

Approximately 20 million euro will be channelled to the famine-hit countries in the Horn of Africa and to Nigeria and Yemen.

The evaluation of six civil society organisations’ (CSOs) programme work and humanitarian aid was published by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs today. This is the second of three reports which will form the first overall evaluation of the results of the programme-based support and humanitarian aid carried out by CSOs, funded by the Ministry.

The EU is creating a system for responsible sourcing of minerals originating in conflict-affected and high-risk areas. The system is based on the OECD’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals. The system is an important step in monitoring responsible supply chains of minerals.

Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen calls for the EU to increase its funding to improve the sexual health and rights of girls and women in developing countries. Mykkänen expressed his view yesterday in the Informal Meeting of EU Ministers for Development Cooperation in Brussels.

At their meeting on Wednesday 15 March, the President of the Republic and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy received the Security Committee’s reports on the security of society and developments in preparedness for hybrid threats.

An Informal EU Development Ministers’ meeting will be held in Brussels on 16 March. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen.

The Finnish-Kazakh Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation will meet in Helsinki on 15 March. The Finnish party of the Commission will be led by Kai Mykkänen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development of the Republic of Finland and the Kazakh party of the Commission will be led by Kanat Bozumbajev, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini and Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström will meet in Helsinki on Thursday 16 March.

The sixty-first session on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, CSW, will take place in New York from 13 to 24 March. A broad-based Finnish delegation will attend the session under the leading of Pirkko Mattila, Minister of Social Affairs and Health.