Foreign Ministry's press releases

Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Dublin, Belfast and London from 3 to 4 March. In Dublin, the Foreign Minister will meet Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Minister for Defence Simon Harris. In Belfast, Minister Valtonen will deliver the Annual Harri Holkeri Lecture on mediation at Queen’s University. In London, she will speak about European security at an event hosted by Chatham House.

The ministers met in Helsinki on 26 February. They discussed the bilateral relations between Finland and Türkiye and EU–Türkiye trade and economic relations.

Finnish Minister for Nordic Cooperation Anders Adlercreutz will attend the meeting of Ministers for Nordic Cooperation in Copenhagen on 26 February. Finland and Åland are holding the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2025.

Permanent State Secretary Jukka Salovaara will visit Geneva, Switzerland, from 25 to 26 February. He will deliver Finland’s address to a High-Level Segment of the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council and to a High-Level Segment of the Conference on Disarmament.

The 16th sanctions package adopted by the European Union on 24 February bans imports of primary aluminium and extends export prohibitions. The package also imposes new sanctions on shadow vessels and those who support the operations of the shadow fleet.

Pasi Rajala, State Secretary to Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen and Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen, will attend meetings on Ukraine at the UN on 24 February. Rajala will travel from New York to Washington DC on 25–26 February.

Finland supports the second phase (2025–2027) of the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine (PFRU) with a total of EUR 4.5 million. There are nine countries channelling their support to Ukraine through the Partnership Fund.

EU foreign ministers will convene in Brussels on 24 February. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs will participate in the international Girls Takeover event run by Plan International, a children’s rights organisation. During the event, girls take over the roles of political, social and economic leaders. On 12 March, Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will step aside for the day to let Natasha Al-Zeilaa, an upper secondary school student from Vantaa, assume her post.

At the presidential session on 13 February, the President of the Republic appointed a non-resident Ambassador to Samoa.