Foreign and security policy in a new era — university tour to discuss topical themes

Preparations for a new government report on Finnish foreign and security policy are underway. As part of the preparations, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, under the leadership of Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen, will organise a series of panel discussions on topical foreign and security policy matters together with four Finnish universities in spring 2024. The first event will take place at the University of Tampere on Monday 4 March.

Foreign Minister Valtonen will be joined by a panel of diplomats, experts and academics at the events.  

• The event at Tampere University (Pinni B, lecture hall B1100, Kanslerinrinne 1) on 4 March from 13.30 to 14.45 (PLEASE NOTE: The time of the event has changed since the publication of the press release) is the first in the series of discussions. The panellists are: Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen, Member of Parliament Jani Kokko, Acting Deputy Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs Mikael Mattlin and Executive Chairman of Latitude 66 Cobalt Oy Thomas Hoyer. The discussion will be moderated by Valtteri Vuorisalo, Professor of Practice at the University of Tampere.
• A panel discussion in Swedish will be organised in cooperation with Åbo Akademi University in Turku on 25 March.

• One event will be organised together with the University of Helsinki over the spring. The schedule for the event will be confirmed soon.

• Young people will have their voices heard in an event organised together with the Youth Academy.

• Up-to-date information on the events and the instructions for registration are available on the summary page of the university tour (in Finnish).

As outlined in the Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government, the Government will prepare a report on Finnish foreign and security policy at the beginning of its term. The report is a key document guiding Finland’s foreign and security policy, and it specifies the Government Programme entries in this respect. Reports have been drawn up in slightly different formats since the 1990s. The previous report was published in 2020. 

The report being prepared is to be submitted to Parliament during its spring session 2024.

This press release was edited on 29 February 2024: The time of the Tampere event was updated and a link was added to the summary page of the university tour.