Current affairs

With more heavy metal bands per capita than anywhere else in the known universe, Finland is at the heart of the tight-knit global metal community. We see how they determine which Finnish city gets the title of Capital of Metal.

Finland awards the International Gender Equality Prize, the first high-profile prize of its kind in the world, to someone who has advanced equality among genders. Rather than collecting the prize money, that person selects a cause to receive a major contribution.

Statement by Mr Timo Soini, Minister for Foreign Affairs Bangkok, 13 October 2016 at EDUCA 2016 seminar

The biennial foreign ministerial meeting between the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, will be organised in Bangkok on 14 October. Finland's representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini.

Several bombs attacks have taken place in popular tourist resorts in Thailand. According to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, no Finnish citizens have been killed or injured in the blasts.

Myanmar’s environmental administration faces an enormous challenge as the country's economy opens up. Finland supported an assessment to identify the administration’s development needs.

At the presidential session on Friday 8 March, the President of the Republic appointed new Heads of Embassies. They will assume their functions on 1 September 2016.

Finland's Ambassador in Bangkok, Ms Kirsti Westphalen, and her colleagues form other EU countries had a meeting today with Mr Panryak Poolthup, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Thai Foreign Ministry. The Ambassadors requested that the Thai military government uphold the principles of freedom of expression and opinion and allow all voices to be heard.

A cartoon competition was organized in Myanmar to mark International Women's Day. The competition entries reflect problems faced by many women and girls in Myanmar. Advancing women's human rights and gender equality is one focus area of Finland's support to Myanmar.

The journey of ambassador Heikki Tuunanen in Africa began in the embassy of Nairobi in 1980. The career will end at the end of June in the African Development Bank in the Ivory Coast. “As the representative of Finland in the world, I always look at things from the Finnish perspective. Here, I have also received the opportunity to look at Africa from the inside,” Tuunanen says.