MFA: Minister for Foreign Trade and Development to Geneva

During her visit, Minister Anne-Mari Virolainen will neet Roberto Azevêdo, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Arancha González, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), and António Vitorino, Director General of IOM, the United Nations Migration Agency. Minister Virolainen will also take part in a side event of the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan, which will focus on Women’s Empowerment.

“I have been concerned about the recent rise in protectionism. It is very important for Finland and the companies that rely heavily on exports to maintain and bolster the WTO’s multilateral, rules-based system. We are going to address these issues with Director-General Roberto Azevêdo”, says minister Virolainen.

A funding agreement between the International Trade Centre and Finland will be signed during the ITC meeting. Finland’s contribution to the ITC’s work is EUR 3.06 million in 2018–2020, with special focus on young people and women entrepreneurs, refugees, and development of entrepreneurship within the unofficial sector.

Minister Virolainen will give a short presentation at the side event of the Afghanistan conference where she will also meet H.E. Mrs Rula Ghani, First Lady of Afghanistan. The Global Compact for Migration, adopted by the UN, will be discussed, among other topics, at the meeting with Director General António Vitorino.

Inquiries: Juha Kirstilä, Special Adviser to the Minister, tel. +358 40 552 8200.

The Foreign Ministry’s email addresses are in the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.