Foreign Minister Haavisto met with UN Secretary-General Guterres

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and UN Secretary-General António Guterres held a discussion on Monday 22 February 2021.

According to Haavisto's department, they exchanged views on the crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

Foreign Minister Haavisto visited Sudan and Ethiopia recently as an Envoy of the European Union mandated to look into the regional impacts of the crisis in Tigray. The main topics of the discussions were humanitarian access to the region and the critical human rights situation. 

“Finland has always considered that it is important to intervene in a crisis at an early phase. The situation in the Horn of Africa leads to both internal displacement and refugee flows between countries. The Secretary-General reiterated that he is monitoring the situation closely and expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to exchange information,” Minister Haavisto says.

Climate targets

Secretary-General Guterres and Foreign Minister Haavisto also discussed climate change matters. Following the inauguration of the new administration in the USA, these questions are now again higher on the agenda in the UN. 

Haavisto highlighted the importance of the Arctic region and the nuclear waste situation in the Arctic.