The Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) is a ministry

Ministry (government department)

A ministry is a specialised organisation responsible for a sector of government public administration, sometimes led by a minister or a senior public servant, that can have responsibility for one or more departments, agencies, bureaus, commissions or other smaller executive, advisory, managerial or...

 in the Finnish Government and is responsible for preparing and implementing the government's foreign policy.

Organisation

The ministry had a total budget in 2009 of 1176 million euros, of which 746 million is targeted at development cooperation and 202 million euros at ministry's operating costs. The total Finland's official development assistance expenditure in 2009 was 916 million euros, which represents approximately 0.47% of the Finnish gross national income.

It employs approximately 1600 people (of whom approximately 1030 are women) and maintains 97 overseas offices housing foreign missions. Since 1987 the ministry has been concentrated in the Katajanokka

Katajanokka

Katajanokka is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, Finland, with around 4000 inhabitants in 2005. The district is located adjacent to the immediate downtown area, though in the first major town plan for Helsinki from the mid-18th century, the area fell outside the fortifications planned to encircle the...

 district of Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

.

Three ministers in the current Jyrki Katainen

Jyrki Katainen

Jyrki Tapani Katainen is the Prime Minister of Finland and chairman of the country's largest party, the National Coalition Party.-Career:...

's government have portfolios relating to the ministry:

• Minister for Foreign Affairs, who is in overall political control of the ministry
• Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade
• Minister for International Development

The most senior civil servant is the Secretary of State, and is assisted by four Under-Secretaries of State with responsibilities allocated as follows:

• Administrative, Legal and Protocol Affairs
• Foreign and Security Policy, Communications and Culture
• External Economic Affairs
• International Development Cooperation and Development Policy

Below these, the ministry is divided into twelve departments:

• Political Department
• Department for External Economic Relations
• Department for Development Policy
• Department for Europe
• Department for Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia;
• Department for the Americas and Asia;
• Department for Africa and the Middle East.
• Department for Global Affairs
• Legal Department
• Department for Administrative Affairs
• Department for Communication and Culture
• Protocol Department

Outside of these departments there are two specialised units:

• Unit for Internal Auditing
• Unit for Policy Planning and Research

Current Ministers

The ministers, as of 22 June 2011, are:

• Minister for Foreign Affairs - Erkki Tuomioja
  Erkki Tuomioja
  Erkki Sakari Tuomioja is the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs. He is currently a member of the Finnish Parliament.Tuomioja is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, although his political views are thought to be more to the left than the party line. He is also a member of ATTAC...
  
  
• Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade - Alexander Stubb
  Alexander Stubb
  Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb is a Finnish politician and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 4 April 2008 to 22 June 2011...
  
  
• Minister for International Development - Heidi Hautala
  Heidi Hautala
  -External links:* * *...
  
  

The current Secretary of State at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is Pertti Torstila.

External links

• ThisisFINLAND (Department for Communication and Culture)