The Consular Corps of Helsinki, Finland, is getting regularly together for luncheon meetings and the participation is usually very good, because we have had the pleasure on these occasions to introduce high level speakers to give presentations on topical items in the political, economic and cultural fields.
In the spring 2004 the Prime Minister of Finland, Mr. Matti Vanhanen, was our guest of honour, and in September the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament and previous Prime Minister, Mr. Paavo Lipponen, had been invited to meet the Consuls. Our latest lecturer was Mr. Jaakko Iloniemi, former Ambassador in Washington, who examined two recent elections: the presidential elections in the United States and the Finnish municipal elections, which also were held in October 2004.
The Finnish capital was visited by the Consular Corps of Stockholm in September 2004 and a number of joint functions were organized together with their Finnish colleagues. A closer cooperation between the Consular Corps of the two neighbouring countries was set up and the Corps Consular of Helsinki is expected to pay a similar visit to Stockholm, presumably during the year of 2005.
There are 75 Honorary Consuls active in Helsinki and it is the location for 50 Embassies. At our consular gatherings we include both the Honorary Consuls and Career Consuls. We also invite the Honorary Consuls from the other cities to participate in our activities when they have the opportunity to call on Helsinki. So far there have been no requirements for the establishment of a nation-wide Consular Corps in Finland. Joint consular gatherings, though, have been organized in the provinces as well, like a Nordic consular conference in Turku, and consular dinner parties in Tampere and Lahti respectively.
The Consular Corps of Helsinki is a founding member of FICAC and is looking forward to its forthcoming activities and conferences. The letters with the visions, goals and action plans addressed by the President, Consul General Ronald Dahlman, have been duly noted and distributed to our members. Any reactions received will be sent directly to the President.
The new President of ACONBRAS, Hon. Luiz Fernando Del Valle, was congratulated by FICAC President, Arnold Foote, at a very successful meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil on 16th April, 2015. Also present in the photograph are Past President of ACONBRAS, Hon. George Antoine, FICAC Secretary General, Hon. Aykut Eken, FICAC Directors, Hon. Costas Lefkaritis, Hon. Sylvain Cohen and Hon. Thomas Amaral Neves, along with Consul General of the Dominican Republic in Sao Paulo, Hon. Geomar Garcia and others. The President of ACONBRAS, Hon. Luiz Fernando Del Valle, pledged his Consular Corps’ full support for the World Federation of Consuls and looks forward to working even closer with the Federation.