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 Union. Within the government, preparative discussions are conducted in the government committee of foreign and security policy, which includes the Prime Minister and at least the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defence, and at most four other ministers as necessary. The committee meets with the President as necessary. Laws concerning foreign relations are discussed in the parliamentary committee of foreign relations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs implements the foreign policy.
Ukraine has formal relations with many nations and in recent decades has been establishing diplomatic relations with an expanding circle of nations. The foreign relations of Ukraine are guided by a number of key priorities outlined in the foreign policy of Ukraine.
Iceland took control of its foreign affairs in 1918 when it became a sovereign country, the Kingdom of Iceland, in a personal union with the King of Denmark. As a fully independent state, Iceland could have joined the League of Nations in 1918, but chose not to do so for cost reasons. It negotiated with Denmark to initially carry out most of its foreign relations, while maintaining full control. Denmark appointed a diplomatic envoy (Ambassador) to Iceland in 1919 and Iceland reciprocated in 1920, opening an Embassy in Copenhagen. Iceland established its own Foreign Service in April 1940 when Denmark became occupied by Nazi Germany and ties between the two countries were severed. The Republic of Iceland was founded in 1944. The Icelandic foreign service grew slowly in the post-WWII period, but increased rapidly after the mid-1990s. Iceland's closest relations are with the Nordic states, the European Union and the United States. Iceland has been a member of the United Nations since 1946. Iceland was a founding member of the World Bank in 1946 and NATO in 1949. In terms of European integration, Iceland was a founding member of the OEEC in 1948 and the Nordic Council in 1952, it joined EFTA in 1970, was a founding member of the CSCE in 1973 and the EEA in 1992 and joined Schengen in 1996.
Tarja Cronberg is a Finnish Green League politician who served as a member of the European Parliament from 2011 until 2014. Cronberg was Member of the Finnish Parliament 2003–2007. She chaired her party from 2005 until 2009 and was the Minister of Labour in the Finnish government from 2007 to 2009 as part of Matti Vanhanen's second cabinet.
Jari Pekka Olavi Vilén is a Finnish diplomat and a politician. Mr. Vilén served in the Finnish Parliament, representing the National Coalition Party and the district of Lapland from 1999–2007.
Finnish-Chinese relations are the foreign relations between Finland and China.
Finnish-Serbian relations are foreign relations between Finland and Serbia. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1929. Finland has an embassy in Belgrade. Serbia has an embassy in Helsinki. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe. Also Finland is an EU member and Serbia is an EU candidate. Finland supports Serbia's European Union membership.
Denmark–Finland relations are foreign relations between Denmark and Finland. Denmark has an embassy in Helsinki. Finland has an embassy in Copenhagen. Both countries are part of the Nordic Council. Denmark officially recognized Finland's independence in 1918 and diplomatic relations were established on 18 February of that year. Both countries are members of the European Union, Nordic Union, Council of the Baltic Sea States, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Nordic Culture Fund and the Finnish-Danish Cultural Fund support projects of artists in both countries.
Agshin Shafaat oglu Mehdiyev is an Azerbaijani diplomat who has served as Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan since May 2014. Agshin Mehdiyev speaks Azerbaijani, Arabic, English, Russian and Turkish.
Olavi Johannes Mattila was a Finnish politician who served twice as the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs, and also held several other ministerial positions in a number of cabinets in the 1960s and 1970s. He was also the CEO of state owned Valmet. He was considered as a close associate of Urho Kekkonen.
Marjatta Rasi was a Finnish diplomat. She represented Finland as Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), and as Ambassador to many countries posted at New Delhi, Dhaka, Colombo, Kathmandu, Thimphu, and Vienna. She worked as Head of Finland's Development Agency. In 2004, she was President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). After serving in New York City in the United Nations from 1998 to 2004, she was also the Under Secretary of State for Development Policy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Finland).
Päivi Luostarinen is a Finnish diplomat. She has been employed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs since 1981 and served as Finnish Ambassador at the Finnish Embassy in London from September 2015 until June 2019.
Ilkka Olavi Pastinen was a Finnish ambassador who also served as Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations.
Kirsti Helena Kauppi was the Finnish ambassador to the United States from January 2015 to September 2020. Prior to that she was in the post of Head of the Political Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 1 April 2012 until the end of 2014. Since 2009, she has served as Head of Division for the Department of Foreign Affairs of Africa and the Middle East. Previously, she has worked at the Ministry's Political Department, for example as Head of the European correspondent network and also in the Development Cooperation Department.
Kirsti Eskelinen-Liukkonen was an Ambassador of Finland to Ankara from 2008 to 2012. She was the Finnish Ambassador to Latvia in Riga from 2000 to 2004 and after that she was head of the Eastern Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 2008. She started with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1973.
