The Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) is a
ministry in the
Finnish Government
The Finnish Government (; ; ) is the executive branch and cabinet of Finland, which directs the politics of Finland and is the main source of legislation proposed to the Parliament. The Government has collective ministerial responsibility an ...
and is responsible for preparing and implementing the government's foreign policy.
Organisation
The ministry in 2017 has a total budget of 1.079 billion euros, of which 675 million will be spent on development cooperation and 248 million euros on the ministry's operating expenses. Upkeep of crisis management troops will cost 50 million euros and civilian personnel 15 million.
It employs 1,420 people (of whom approximately 74% are women) as well as 980 locally hired personnel and maintains 89 overseas offices housing foreign missions.
Since 1987 the ministry has been concentrated in the
Katajanokka
Katajanokka (; ) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, Finland, with around 4000 inhabitants in 2005. The district is located adjacent to the immediate downtown area, though in the first major town plan for Helsinki from the mid-18th century, the area ...
district of
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
.
Two ministers in the current
Petteri Orpo
Antti Petteri Orpo (; born 3 November 1969) is a Finland, Finnish politician currently serving as the prime minister of Finland since 2023 and as the leader of the National Coalition Party since 2016. He briefly served as speaker of the Parliame ...
's government have portfolios relating to the ministry:
*
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...
, who is in overall political control of the ministry
* Minister for Foreign Trade and Development
The most senior
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
is the Secretary of State, and is assisted by four Under-Secretaries of State with responsibilities allocated as follows:
* Administrative, Legal and Protocol Affairs
* Foreign and Security Policy, Communications and Culture
* External Economic Affairs
* International Development Cooperation and Development Policy
Below these, the ministry is divided into twelve departments:
* Political Department
* Department for External Economic Relations
* Department for Development Policy
* Department for Europe
* Department for Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia;
* Department for the Americas and Asia;
* Department for Africa and the Middle East.
* Department for Global Affairs
* Legal Department
* Department for Administrative Affairs
* Department for Communication and Culture
* Protocol Department
Outside of these departments there are two specialised units:
* Unit for Internal Auditing
* Unit for Policy Planning and Research
Current Ministers
The ministers, as of 20 June 2023, are:
*Minister for Foreign and European Affairs
Elina Valtonen
*Minister for Foreign Trade and Development
Ville Tavio
The current Secretary of State at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is
.
Official Development Assistance
According to the
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
, Finland's total
official development assistance (ODA)
Official development assistance (ODA) is a category used by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure foreign aid. The DAC first adopted the concept in 1969. It is wi ...
(USD 1.6 billion) increased in 2022 due to in-donor refugee costs. It represented 0.58% of gross national income (GNI). Finland's development co-operation prioritises the rights and status of women and girls; sustainable economies and decent work; quality education; peace and democracy; and climate change and the sustainable use of natural resources.
[
]
See also
*
Foreign relations of Finland
The foreign relations of Finland are the responsibility of the president of Finland, who leads foreign policy in cooperation with the government. Implicitly the government is responsible for internal policy and decision making in the European ...
*
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Finland)
The minister for foreign affairs (, ) handles the Finnish Government, Finnish Government's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, and is in charge of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Finland), Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Minister ...
*
State visit to Finland
A state visit is a formal visit by the head of a sovereign country (or representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or representative) of that foreign country, with the ...
References
External links
ThisisFINLAND(Department for Communication and Culture)
{{authority control
Government of Finland
Foreign
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* United S ...
Foreign relations of Finland
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...