MFA: Minister for Foreign Affairs Haavisto to visit India

On the agenda for the foreign ministers meeting are deepening of the relations between India and Finland, regional issues, EU-India relations and strengthening rule-based multilateralism. A special focus during the visit will be on climate change and Africa, to which both the EU and India have close relations that they wish to further enhance. Finland hopes that India would join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, founded on the initiative of Finland and Chile. The topics to be discussed with the companies include the implementation of corporate social responsibility and the business environment in India. Minister Haavisto will also meet representatives of civil society organisations.

“I am very happy to continue the intensive dialogue we have had between the foreign ministers of Finland and India. We laid the groundwork for our discussions during Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to Finland in September. In India we will have the opportunity to learn even more about India at the societal level and outside its capital. Finland’s political leadership wishes to support the international operations of our companies. In this respect the investments KONE has made in India are highly valuable and strengthen the view of India as an interesting business environment,” Minister Haavisto says.

“Education is a key to boosting development in a sustainable way. There is a lot of potential in research, innovation and education cooperation between Finland and India. Part of this could be targeted to research concerning climate change,” Haavisto says. Possible areas of cooperation include air quality research and monitoring, where Finland has strong expertise. 

Inquiries: Jeri Aalto, Special Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 50 472 0725, Ari Tasanen, Desk Officer, Unit for South Asia, tel. +358 50 412 6881, or Arto Haapea, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Finland in India, tel. +91 89290 32483.

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