Current affairs

For the first time, Finland will become the chair of the group of countries and organisations providing budget support to Tanzania on 2 April. Budget support is an essential form of development assistance, and Finland will chair the cooperation concerning it in Tanzania for one year.

Finland and Tanzania agreed on the form of their future cooperation, in connection with the visit of Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Minister for International Development Pekka Haavisto.

Fragile Countries and the Role of International Community

Finland is recovering 80,000 euros of development cooperation funds from Tanzania. The reason for the recovery is the irregularities detected in the financial management of the programme for supporting Tanzania’s local government reform.

The Nordic foreign ministers met this weekend, 15–16 June, with their colleagues from eleven African countries. The meeting was hosted by Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja. In addition to the Nordic countries, the participants came from Benin, Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. The themes discussed at this meeting were the Nordic welfare state, inclusive economic growth and Africa’s conflicts.

Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb and Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala will travel to Zambia and Tanzania from 20 to 25 May. On this first joint trade and development trip, they will be accompanied by a delegation consisting of representatives from businesses and civil society organisations, which has been compiled by Finpro.

Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala and Tanzania's Minister of Finance William Mgimwa signed a budgetary support agreement between the countries in Arusha, Tanzania on 30 May. The Ministers said that the budgetary support increases Tanzania's ownership of the received aid.

Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala will visit Tanzania from 29 May to 3 June. During her trip the Minister will learn about topical Tanzanian development issues and the development cooperation financed by Finland, she will have talks with the Government of Tanzania concerning the implementation of the new Finnish development policy programme, and she will participate in the annual meeting of the African Development Bank.

Due to the security situation in Kenya, Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala, currently travelling in Africa, will have to change her itinerary. In Ethiopia, the Minister has been engaged in discussions about Finnish development aid for three days, and she was supposed to continue her journey to Kenya tomorrow.