Next time 2017, but before that an alumni meeting

With the winter soon knocking on the Helsinki doors it is tempting to think back at the sunny weeks of ThisisFINLAND Foreign Correspondents’ Programme 2015. It just has to be among the most inspiring and creative tasks a Finnish diplomat gets to work with. Such an honor and such a joy to get to know 21 young international media professionals, and to be able to show them the many sides and faces there is to our Nordic country. I loved every second of it!

We have now been looking into the crystal ball of FCP, a programme that has been on-going in this format since 1990. The programme has during some periods been organized on a yearly basis, sometimes not. In today’s world making five year plans is pretty challenging, but we now have a plan at least for some of the incoming years.

This is the plan:

1) We will organize FCP from now on every second year, ie during the uneven years. The next FCP would thus take place in 2017 (August, most probably, with the application process starting in the selected countries during early spring 2017).

2) During the even years, ie starting with 2016, we will start organizing smaller and shorter FCP Alumni meetings for handpicked media professionals that during the last 25 years have participated in an FCP programme. If you are interested as an FCP alumni, please be in contact with your nearest Finnish embassy.

Need I say? I’m very excited to be able to start planning the alumni meeting, and over the moon excited to be able to host a ThisisFINLAND Foreign Correspondents’ Programme  the exact year Finland turns 100 years old!