Haku

19.4.2021 | Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Finland Ville Skinnari delivered the statement on behalf of the governments and peoples of 81 countries.

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.

7.10.2021 | EU home affairs ministers will gather in Luxembourg on 8 October for a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. Items on the agenda include the external dimension of migration, the situation in Afghanistan and the fight against child sexual abuse. Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo will represent Finland at the meeting.

15.10.2021 | EU foreign ministers will convene in Luxembourg on Monday 18 October. The main items on the agenda will be the EU’s Eastern Partnership, Ethiopia, the Persian Gulf and Nicaragua. Topical issues on the agenda will include Afghanistan, climate diplomacy, Tunisia and the Western Balkans.

20.3.2023 | The priority theme of the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), held in New York from 6 to 17 March 2023, was technology, innovation and education. The theme of technology and gender equality is important for Finland, and Finland is one of the leaders of the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality, which is part the Generation Equality Forum, a global campaign led by UN Women.

19.9.2022 | “The fight for natural resources is a common trigger for conflict in many places. When I was in Uganda, I saw what an immense impact climate change and loss of biodiversity have on people’s lives,” says Anna Merrifield, Director of the recently created Unit for Climate and Environmental Diplomacy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

23.3.2023 | The Finnish missions and embassies report that following the application for NATO membership and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Finland’s political leaders featured prominently in the international media. In 2021, it was Finnish athletes who received most mentions in the international news media, but last year President Sauli Niinistö, Prime Minister Sanna Marin, and Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto rose to the top of the list alongside athletes.

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.

3.6.2022 | The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise a thisisFINLAND Foreign Correspondents’ Programme (FCP) from 5 to 11 June 2022. The programme will give 13 young foreign correspondents and media professionals an opportunity to learn about Finland and the Finnish society.

1.4.2022 | At the presidential session on 1 April, the President of the Republic appointed ten new Ambassadors.

9.2.2023 | The number of visas applied for at Finnish missions abroad are on the rise again after the pandemic years. However, the number of visas granted was only about one fifth of the number of visas granted in 2019, the year before the pandemic started.

14.10.2022 | At the presidential session on 14 October, the President of the Republic appointed two new non-resident Ambassadors.

19.7.2023 | EU home affairs ministers will gather in Logroño in Spain on 20 July for an informal meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. The agenda will include the fight against organised crime, the situation in Ukraine and migration. Finland will be represented by Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen.

21.4.2023 | EU foreign ministers will convene in Luxembourg on 24 April. Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will represent Finland at the meeting.

19.5.2023 | EU foreign ministers will convene in Brussels on 22 May. Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will represent Finland at the meeting.

30.6.2023 | On 30 June, on the second day of the meeting, the European Council continued the discussion on migration, which it had started on the previous day.

22.6.2023 | EU foreign ministers will convene in Luxembourg on 26 June. Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

9.12.2022 | EU Foreign ministers to meet in Brussels on Monday 12 December. Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto to represent Finland at the meeting.

15.2.2023 | Tunisia’s Minister of Communication Technologies, Dr Nizar Ben Neji, will visit Finland from 16 to 17 February.

4.8.2023 | Summary: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues. As a result of the war, around four million Ukrainians have applied for temporary protection in the Member States of the European Union. Other migration to the EU is also growing. Both the number of asylum applications submitted in the EU and irregular migration to the EU are on the rise. At the moment, migration pressure is concentrated on the Central Mediterranean route from Tunisia and Libya to Italy.