Ambitious.Africa Meets with Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto 6.8

Pekka Haavisto, Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs, with Ambitious.Africa team members Maija Luukka, Peter Vesterbacka, Victor Lindahl, Ronny Eriksson and Sanna Lukander (from the left).

The Ambitious.Africa team met with Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto last Thursday, August 6th to discuss the importance of engaging youth in Africa and bringing the youth perspective to the Foreign Ministry through an ‘Africa Day’ event which will be held in Helsinki towards the end of September. 

Ambitious.Africa met with Finland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto last Thursday to discuss engaging youth in Africa. During the meeting, Haavisto and the Ambitious.Africa team discussed the importance of having a strong awareness of Europe's colonial past when starting new projects in Africa. This awareness is essential, they agreed, to enable young people from both continents to meet one another with mutual respect and understanding.

Last year Haavisto was tasked with a diplomatic mission to discuss the situation in Sudan. He held talks in countries such as Ethiopia and Egypt on this subject, highlighting the importance of restoring peace, economic recovery, security, democracy and respect for human rights. Haavisto has previously worked as the EU Special Representative for Sudan and Darfur between 2005-2007. He also worked as the Special Advisor for the UN's Assistant Secretary-General in Darfur Peace Process in 2007. 

Haavisto and the Ambitious.Africa team also discussed the launch of Ambitious.Africa and ways to bring in the 30 remaining countries into the initiative. They decided one of the ways to engage more participants will be to organise a day to highlight Africa at the Foreign Ministry in Finland at the end of September. Key stakeholders and members of the African diaspora in Finland will be invited, with the aim of also raising awareness of the youth perspective within foreign ministry.