Foreign Minister Valtonen to travel to Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will visit Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Singapore on 24–28 October. The three areas of focus for the visit are Finland’s accession to ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), the promotion of economic cooperation and investments, and dialogue on network security. Minister Valtonen will have high-level meetings with the countries’ government and business representatives and deliver a lecture in an international lecture series in Singapore.

Finland’s accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) will promote peace, cooperation, and friendship between the countries. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will sign ASEAN’s TAC in Kuala Lumpur on 25 October. The treaty will strengthen Finland’s position as a partner of ASEAN and support foreign policy objectives in Southeast Asia.

"Finland will deepen its relations with Southeast Asian countries, one concrete example being Finland’s accession to ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. We aim to strengthen trade relations and dialogue to promote stability, economic cooperation and sustainable development,” says Minister for Foreign Affairs Valtonen.

In Kuala Lumpur, Foreign Minister Valtonen will meet several ministers of the ASEAN countries and the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr Kao Kim Hourn. The meetings will discuss developing relations between Finland and the ASEAN countries and topical regional and global issues.

Foreign Minister Valtonen’s visit to Jakarta will focus on commercial and economic themes and digital security. She will meet Indonesian government representatives responsible for industry, infrastructure and investments, among other areas, and Finnish and Indonesian business leaders.

In Singapore, Foreign Minister Valtonen will meet Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam and key economic and technological operators. In connection with the visit, she will deliver a lecture in the Raffles Lectures series hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Her lecture is entitled “Resilience the Finnish Way – Small States in a Turbulent World”.