Foreign Ministry's press releases

The Government plenary session issued a decree on the Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, National Representatives and International Staff, also known as the Ottawa Agreement on 8 June.

The OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) will take place from 7 to 8 June 2023 in Paris. The theme of this year’s meeting is securing a resilient future. The ministers will also discuss the reconstruction of Ukraine.

On 2 June, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued recommendations to Finland based on Finland's combined fifth and sixth periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto.

Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed a Joint Statement on Cooperation in Advanced Wireless Communications between Finland and the United States in Helsinki on 2 June. In the Joint Statement, Finland and the United States confirm their common ambition to cooperate in key areas of 6G research and development and to increase interaction between Finnish and US actors.

An informal meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs will be held in Oslo from 31 May to 1 June. This will be the second meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs which Finland attends as a member of the Alliance.

Finland will host for the first time the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) from 29 May to 8 June 2023. Around 400 leading experts on Antarctica will gather in Helsinki.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will host United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Finland on 2 June.

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will attend the Foreign Affairs Council in its trade configuration in Brussels on Thursday 25 May. The trade ministers will discuss the EU’s trade relations with the United States and China and preparations for the next Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The ministers will also discuss the EU’s ongoing bilateral trade negotiations.

Making a rare appearance in Finland, the Finnish-Ecuadorian climate and environmental activist Helena Gualinga will deliver a keynote speech at the invitation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs at the World Village Festival in Suvilahti, Helsinki on Saturday 27 May.

On 23 May, Finland was informed by Russia that Russia will terminate the bilateral agreement between Finland and Russia on additional military evaluation visits as of 1 June. Under the agreement, Russia may make one evaluation visit to Finland per calendar year, and reciprocally Finland may make one evaluation visit to Russia’s Leningrad Military District. This bilateral agreement, signed in 2000, complements the Vienna Document adopted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).