15.1.2020

What kind of world do we operate in? The Ministry for Foreign Affairs visits ÅAU with panel discussion in March

Preparations for a new report on foreign and security policy are currently under way. As part of this process, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise a series of panel discussions on topical foreign and security policy questions in cooperation with five Finnish universities in spring 2020.

The panel discussions will bring together ministers, public officials, specialists, and representatives of civil society and the academia. The events will be open to all who are interested in foreign and security policy and provide everyone with an opportunity to engage in the dialogue.

• The series of panel discussions will start at the Science Corner of the University of Helsinki on 28 January. The theme of the first event will be climate change and today’s global challenges and their impacts on security.
• At the University of Tampere on 12 February, discussion will focus on the current state and future of European security as well as on the role of the EU as a provider of security and on future trends in NATO.
• At the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi on 26 February, the topic of discussion will be the security of Finland’s neighbouring areas. The panel will consider the importance of the Baltic Sea or the Arctic for Finland’s security, for example.
• The event at the Åbo Academy in Turku will be bilingual (Finnish and Swedish will be used), and discussion will focus on human rights and international law.
• At the University of Jyväskylä on 16 March, the topic of discussion will be the future of the rules-based international system. Panellists will explore, for example, the prospects of international trade and the UN’s future. The event will be interpreted in Finnish sign language.

The panel discussions can be viewed online both live and as a recording. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will give more information about the discussions on its Twitter and Facebook accounts.

In line with the Government Programme, the Government will prepare a report on Finnish foreign and security policy at the beginning of its term. Reports have been drawn up in slightly different formats since the 1990s; the previous report was published in 2016.