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25.11.2025 | Prime Minister Petteri Orpo represented Finland at the seventh EU-African Union (AU) Summit in Luanda, Angola on 24 and 25 November. The summit was attended by heads of state or government from both continents and by President of the European Council António Costa and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen from the European side.

14.8.2025 | At its session on Thursday 14 August, the Government appointed Timo Olkkonen as the new Deputy Director General of the Department for Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

25.4.2025 | At the presidential session on 25 April, the President of the Republic appointed the following persons to serve as heads of missions: Okko-Pekka Salmimies, Bern; Pekka Voutilainen, Hanoi; Jukka Siukosaari, Copenhagen; Riina-Riikka Heikka, Nairobi; Olli Kantanen, Stockholm; Eevamari Laaksonen, Pristina; Minna Laajava, Los Angeles.

18.1.2024 | The budget reductions set out in the Government Programme will focus especially on region and country-specific development cooperation. The Country Programmes with Afghanistan, Kenya, Mozambique and Myanmar will be discontinued during the government term. Reductions will also be made in multilateral cooperation, humanitarian assistance and development policy loans and investments.

23.2.2024 | The world’s highest-level decision-making body for matters related to the environment, the United Nations Environment Assembly UNEA, will convene at its sixth session in Nairobi, Kenya on 26 February–1 March. UNEA-6 will bring UN Member States and representatives of civil society groups, the scientific community and the private sector together to seek solutions to acute environmental challenges. Finland’s UNEA delegation will be led by Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen.

1.3.2023 | Finland’s new Special Envoy for Climate Change Kerstin Stendahl has been following international climate and environmental negotiations for nearly three decades. Stendahl has held leading positions in the Ministry of the Environment and in the United Nations, among other places.

5.12.2023 | The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry will organise two side events and act as a partner in several other events at the UN Climate Conference COP28 in Dubai. The programme themes are sustainable food systems, climate change adaptation and low-carbon construction.

27.10.2023 | In 2024–2026, the higher education cooperation of Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs will prioritise teacher education, climate change and the circular economy, and food security. The Foreign Ministry grants just over EUR 6 million to the seven projects approved for the partnership programme.

11.11.2022 | The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise an induction course into development policy and development cooperation for journalists (Development Academy) in January 2023. A field visit to Kenya is included in the course. In addition, one or two journalists will have the opportunity to visit Somalia. The call for application is open from 11 to 30 November 2022.

7.10.2022 | The Horn of Africa is battling with a historic drought that threatens the lives of millions of people. More funding is urgently needed for both emergency relief and long-term solutions. Finland, too, has increased its support to the region.

7.7.2026 | Utrikesministeriet har i år tagit emot cirka 2 200 ansökningar om säsongsarbetsvisum för plockning av vilda bär i Finland. Hittills har majoriteten av ansökningarna behandlats, sammanlagt cirka 1600 ansökningar. Vid behandlingen av visumansökningarna har identifierats signaler som tyder på att arbetstagarna riskerar att bli utnyttjade och att arbetsgivarna har det svårt att uppfylla lagstadgade arbetsgivarskyldigheter. Merparten av ansökningarna, cirka 1400, har fått avslag.

31.5.2022 | The high-level UN meeting Stockholm+50 will be held in Stockholm, Sweden on 2–3 June 2022. The meeting will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first UN conference on the environment, assess the environmental actions taken in the past 50 years and present concrete recommendations to improve the state of the environment.

3.2.2023 | Somalia’s first Minister of Environment and Climate Change Khadija Mohamed Almakhzoumi visited Finland this week on the invitation of Minister Maria Ohisalo.

26.1.2023 | On 9 January, Director General Kauko Aaltomaa, who is on leave of absence from the Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior, took up his duties as Head of Mission of the European Union Capacity Building Mission in Somalia (EUCAP Somalia). EUCAP Somalia is a civilian crisis management mission under the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy. Its tasks include promoting maritime security in Somalia and supporting the building of the country’s police and judicial administrations.

8.7.2022 | On 8 July, Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto appointed Member of Parliament Suldaan Said Ahmed as his Special Representative on Peace Mediation in the Horn of Africa. In his work as Foreign Minister’s Special Representative, Said Ahmed will focus on supporting peace processes.

1.9.2022 | Desertification is a wretched process that is caused by fertile soil becoming dry and impoverished and that eventually ruins the soil’s productivity completely. Soil that is unfit for cultivation is a major trigger for migration flows in Africa and the Middle East.

22.10.2021 | On Friday 22 October, the President of the Republic decided to appoint new non-resident ambassadors.

24.9.2021 | On Friday 24 September, the President of the Republic decided to appoint one new non-resident ambassador.

1.12.2021 | The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted EUR 17.82 million to international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) for 2022–2024. Support was granted to 11 international human rights organisations operating in developing countries, whose work focuses on four themes: ending impunity; supporting human rights defenders; strengthening the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights and addressing discriminatory practices; and business and human rights.

25.2.2022 | The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) brings together nearly 200 Member States to launch the negotiations on a global plastics agreement. UNEA is the highest environmental decision-making body in the UN. The Finnish delegation in Nairobi, Kenya, is headed by State Secretary Terhi Lehtonen from the Ministry of the Environment.