Current affairs

With elements of sci-fi and mystery, Emmi Itäranta’s book Memory of Water takes place in the future but comments on the present.

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will participate in the opening of the United States' chairmanship of the Arctic Council in Washington, D.C. on Thursday 21 May.

With elements of sci-fi and mystery, Emmi Itäranta’s book Memory of Water takes place in the future but comments on the present.

Finland has been removed from the most recent Special 301 Report Watchlist of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Finland was on the Watchlist from 2009-2014 due to what the United States considered to be insufficient pharmaceutical patent protection as well as issues with the pharmaceutical reimbursement system and the pricing and substitutability of pharmaceuticals.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja will participate in the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Iqaluit, in the Canadian North, on 24 April. The meeting will approve action plans concerning the prevention of and response to Arctic marine oil pollution and the reduction of black carbon and methane emissions.

The Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja will travel to Washington on Sunday 29 March. On Monday 30 March Minister Tuomioja will attend a seminar on Innovative Global Governance Processes for Mobilizing Political Will, organized jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka will travel to the United States to promote the exports of Finnish cleantech enterprises. The Team Finland trade mission will be in Los Angeles and Palo Alto from 18 to 21 March to market Finnish expertise in an area that may well be the world’s most significant concentration of clean energy, financing and research.

Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka will visit Brussels on Tuesday 24 February to meet with Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and to participate in a panel discussion on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the USA, to be held at Finland's Permanent Representation to the EU.

United States Special Representative for the Arctic, Admiral Robert J. Papp will visit Finland on Friday, 23 January. Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja will hold official talks with Special Representative Papp.

Our embassy building in Washington D.C. has been awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification as the first embassy in the U.S. The embassy is known for its beautiful architecture and close connection to nature, and now it is also even greener than before.