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Helena-Reet Ennet

Helena-Reet Ennet
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Minister Haavisto to attend meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs will meet from 30 November to 1 December 2021 in Riga. Finland and Sweden as NATO partner countries and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy are invited to participate in the discussion concerning the Western Balkans region, which will be held on 1 December. Finland’s representative at the meeting will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto.The stability of the Western Balkans region is important for the whole of Europe. Supporting the region is important for both the European Union and NATO. NATO promotes stability and security in the region through crisis management The NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) is currently the largest NATO mission with a strength of about 3,700 personnel. Finland has participated in the KFOR mission since 1999 and contributed approximately 7,300 personnel.Engaging in discussions with NATO on topical foreign and security policy questions related to the security environment is important to Finland

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

County elections: Ministry of Justice holds interactive election information clinics

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — Election information clinics directed at different target groups play an important role in the Ministry of Justice’s preparations for the first county elections. The Ministry holds election clinics for central municipal election boards, county election boards and journalists alike. Information about the elections is also provided at ‘Multilingual county elections 2022’ events. The main language of the events is Finnish, but participants may also present questions in English and Swedish.At the interactive election information clinics, election specialists from the Ministry of Justice provide municipalities with topical information about county election arrangements and answer any questions asked. These events also provide municipalities with an opportunity to share their ideas on the practical election arrangements with each other. In addition to the clinics, the Ministry of Justice is providing the municipalities with a possibility to attend eOppiva online training.In connection with the 2021 municipal elections, the Ministry of Justice held election information clinics for journalists for the first time, and this practice is continued in connection with the 2022 county elections. Furthermore, this is the first time that the Ministry of Justice holds election information clinics for county election boards and people working with multiculturalism and immigration, such as CSO employees and authorities, as well as for active members of multicultural organisations and multilingual communities, local councillors and county election candidates.The election information clinics related to the county elections are held as virtual events, which was found to be a good practice in connection with the municipal elections of spring 2021. Remote arrangements have enabled closer contacts with many cooperation partners, and the clinics have been exceptionally popular.Instructions and information about the county elections is also available on the Electionsfinland.fi website. Election information clinics will be held until the county elections in January. You can register for the ‘Multilingual county elections 2022’ events by filling in this form.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Board of the Riigikogu invites to fly the national flags on the Day of National Perpetuity

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet —

The Board of the Riigikogu, the Estonian Heritage Society and the Estonian Flag Association call on celebrating the Day of Perpetual Estonian Nationhood on 30 November and to fly the national flag on the occasion.

“30 November is the equinox of the liberty of the Republic of Estonia, because on that day, the time of freedom and the time of captivity of our country achieve equal lengths,” President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Jüri Ratas said. “This means that the number of days as an independent country and the number of days of occupation during our 104 years of history are equal.”

“On behalf of the Board of the Riigikogu, I invite to decorate all houses with blue-black-white, because from that day onwards, our country has been independent for more days that we have lived under different occupation powers,” Ratas said. On behalf of the Board of the Riigikogu, he proposed to raise national flags on the occasion of the Day of Perpetual Estonian Nationhood at sunrise on 30 November and to lower them at sunset.

At Toompea, the day will begin with raising of the national flag at the Tall Hermann Tower at 8.49 a.m. The raising of the flag will be assisted by Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Urmas Viilma, representative of the August 20th Club Rein Veidemann, representative of Memento association Peep Varju, Home Daughter Marie Elisabeth Kleinot and Young Eagle Erik Tinnuri.

At 10 a.m., a virtual conference dedicated to the equinox of liberty will begin in the Conference Hall of the Riigikogu. The opening address of the conference will be delivered by President of the Riigikogu Jüri Ratas. President of the Academy of Sciences Tarmo Soomere, Head of the Tallinn City Archives, historian Küllo Arjakas, Professor Emeritus of Tallinn University Rein Veidemann and Research Editor if the Estonian Public Broadcasting Maarja Merivoo-Parro will present speeches.

The conference will be streamed online at the Riigikogu web page
Video recording of the conference can be viewed on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.

Source: Parliament of Estonia

Minister Kurvinen: Additional funding to support the development of university consortia and to boost their impact

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — The Ministry of Education and Culture has allocated a total of EUR 3 million in additional financing to six university consortia to develop their activities and to strengthen their regional and social impact. The one-off resources will be allocated from the unallocated strategy-based funding of universities for 2020.“The new direction in higher education policy is to strengthen the regional network of higher education institutions,” says Minister of Science and Culture Antti Kurvinen.“The important work that the university consortia perform serves students and research activities both nationally and in their respective regions in Kainuu, Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, South Savo and Päijät-Häme. With this funding, I want to further boost the imprint of the university consortia,” Minister Kurvinen says.The funding was decided on the basis of university applications. The emphasis when evaluating applications was placed on cooperation to bolster the employment and competence needs in the regions, measures related to research, development and innovation, and collaboration with business life. Ways to promote employment opportunities for students and researchers in university cities were also taken into account.The environments in which university consortia operate vary considerably in terms of the structure of business and industry, demographic trends and innovation environments, so the applications submitted by the different university consortia varied. In addition to their university consortium strategy, all applications had a clear link to their own region’s strategy, key competences or ecosystems under construction.Financing grantedThe funding decisions for the university consortia of Kajaani, Mikkeli and Lahti correspond to the funding level that the institutions applied for.Press release, 11 October 2021: Korkeakouluille lisätukea toiminnan kehittämiseen ja yliopistokeskusten vahvistamiseen (in Finnish and Swedish)

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Avoid all travel to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mosambik ja Malawi

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — Based on the recommendations of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs recommends avoiding all travel to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mosambik and MalawiUpdated 29.11: Added to the list  Mosambik ja MalawiA new variant of COVID-19, known as B.1.1.529, which has numerous mutations to the spike protein, has been detected in South Africa and Botswana. Due to the mutations, it is feared that the variant may spread effectively.The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has updated its travel advice for individual countries.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Regional Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean wants closer cooperation

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will attend the Regional Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in Barcelona on Monday 29 November. A foreign ministerial meeting of the European Union and Southern Neighbourhood will be held on the same day.The purpose of the meeting is to intensify Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, to strengthen mutual trust through political dialogue between the EU and its Southern Neighbourhood countries, as well as to find ways to respond to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A concrete objective is to speed up the adoption of so-called partnerships, which form a foundation for joint projects between the EU and countries of the Southern Neighbourhood can be launched.“It is important for Finland to adhere to the EU’s value base, strengthen the participation of women and youth, and promote environmental protection and action against climate change,” says Minister for Foreign Affairs Haavisto.In their discussions, EU ministers will focus on efforts to speed up the handling of partnership agreements and on reminding each other of the agreed partnership priorities. The priorities define the political framework for cooperation that guides individual partnership negotiations and sets the preconditions for the funding paid by the EU. Different EU countries have different interests: for the southern Member States, the new policy offers an opportunity to generate economic and social stability, including jobs, especially in North African countries.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund Natalia Kanem to visit Finland

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will meet Dr Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on Friday 3 December.Executive Director of UNFPA Natalia Kanem will visit Finland on 2–3 December and have a meeting with Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari.  Skinnari and Kanem will discuss ways to achieve UNFPA’s objectives concerning ways of preventing unplanned pregnancies, ending maternal mortality and putting an end to gender-based violence and such harmful practices as female genital mutilation (FGM) and child, early  and forced marriages, by 2030.“Unfortunately, violence against women and girls has continued to increase all over the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. The position of women and girls can be improved through new technologies, and Finland has a lot to offer in this area to UNFPA’s gender equality work,” says Minister Skinnari.A key priority in Finland’s development policy and development cooperation is to strengthen the status and rights of women and girls, with an emphasis on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Of the UN specialised agencies supported by Finland, UNFPA is the largest recipient of core funding. In 2021, Finland’s core funding amounts to EUR 33 million. Additionally, funding is directed to certain country strategies, including in Myanmar, Somalia and Iraq, and to UNFPA’s humanitarian activities.  

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

President of the Riigikogu meets the Speakers of the Nordic and Baltic parliaments in Denmark  

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet —

President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Jüri Ratas attends the hybrid conference of the Speakers of the Nordic and Baltic (NB8) parliaments in Copenhagen. The discussions will focus on the hybrid attacks against European countries launched by the Belarusian regime and illegal immigration, and on future cooperation between the Baltic States and the Nordic Countries.

At the traditional meeting of the Nordic and Baltic Speakers, all participants first give an overview of significant topical issues in their parliaments. The Speaker of the Danish parliament will speak about the organisation of work between the parliament and the government.

The Speakers of the parliaments of Latvia and Finland will give a survey of involving citizens in the work of the parliament. Estonia has made a proposal to enhance the cooperation between the standing committees in order to achieve tangible results, like launching the debate of Social Affairs Committees for mutual recognition of digital prescriptions.

The Nordic-Baltic cooperation, or NB8, has been bringing Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania around the same table since 1992. The first meeting of the NB8 Speakers took place in 1997 in Karlskrona, Sweden.

Source: Parliament of Estonia

Finland to restrict entry from Southern Africa due to new virus variant

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — As of 15.00 on Sunday 28 November, Finland will restrict entry into the country at its external borders for travellers who have been in Botswana, Eswatini, South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia or Zimbabwe during the 14 days prior to their arrival in Finland. The Government adopted a decision on the matter on 28 November.In line with the decision, travellers who have been in one of the above-mentioned African countries will not be able to enter Finland by presenting a certificate of full vaccination against COVID-19.  A person may enter Finland from these countries only if they have an essential reason for doing so, such as compelling family matters or another compelling personal reason.The entry into force of the Government’s previous decision from 25 November 2021 has been moved up so that the decision will enter into force on 28 November at 15.00. Namibia will be removed from the list of countries appended to the previous decision.See the websites below for more information on the entry restrictions and health security requirements in place.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

Finland: Salla National Park in Finland approved by government

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Helena-Reet Ennet
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NordenBladet — A proposal to establish Sallatunturi National Park in Finnish Lapland has been approved by the country’s government, making it the 41st national park in Finland.

The idea of the park, which is along the northeastern border with Russia, came from within the municipality itself, with Parliament’s plenary session going smoothly, states MP and Environment Committee member Mari-Leena Talvitie.

The Finnish government’s 2021 supplementary budget put 4.5 million Euros towards establishing the park.

Krista Mikkonen, Minister of the Interior, explained to Parliament that the Salla National Park is expected to increase jobs in the area and earn annual tax revenues by a total of 400,000 euros over the next seven years.

Mikkonen also explained that the park would support sustainable nature tourism as it can be reached by public transport from southern Finland.

 

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