The participants met Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb for lunch, where he answered their questions.

THE MINISTRY of Foreign Affairs invited 21 newly graduated or graduating journalism students to Finland to participate in the four-week-long Foreign Correspondents’ Programme during August. The international group includes young journalists from Austria, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Germany, Malaysia, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, Ukraine, and the United States.

The programme aims at deepening the understanding of Finland and to create a positive attitude towards it. In the long run it is an investment into future media relations that are an integral part of the Ministry’s public diplomacy. “The Ministry’s first media-training programme was organised 20 years ago, in 1990. Since then almost 300 foreign journalists have visited Finland as part of this programme. Many of them still keep in touch with us – and each other – and write about Finland,” says Päivi Harju-Heikkilä of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, describing the programme and its legacy.

The course began on 2 August and comes to an end on Friday of this week. The programme included a variety of activities, trips and meetings with, among others, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen. The participating journalists visited the parliament, selected business companies and attended a workshop hosted by Demos Helsinki. “The participants gain a broad perspective on Finnish society, its politics, history, the economy and culture by some of the best experts in the country,” Harju-Heikkilä explains. This year’s central themes included the Baltic Sea, clean tech and design. “Feedback from the participants themselves as well as from our lecturers and other co-operation partners has been very positive and encouraging for us to continue this programme in the future,” she concludes.

NINA RATAVAARA

HELSINKI TIMES

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS