The President of the Republic of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, has announced that from September 1 this year the country will have six new ambassadors appointed abroad.
In a statement issued on March 23, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland revealed that the country has appointed Foreign Affairs Advisor Pirkko Hämäläinen as the head of the Finnish embassy in Ankara, Turkiye, starting September 1, 2023, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
During the period 2014-2018, Hämäläinen served as Undersecretary of State 2014-2018, while from 2012 to 2014, she worked as ambassador in Riga and as deputy ambassador in Tallinn and Reykjavik.
Counsellor for foreign affairs Anu Saarela was also appointed as the head of the Finnish embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
Councilor Saarela has worked as the deputy director of the legal service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2019. Between 2026-2018 she worked as the head of the Finnish Embassy in Tel Aviv and as the head of the Finnish representative office in Nicosia in 2012-2016. In terms of education, Saarela has a bachelor’s degree in law and economics.
Whereas, from the Finnish president Niinistö, the advisor for foreign affairs Kai Sauer received the title of the head of the Finnish Embassy in Berlin, Germany.
According to the Ministry, Sauer will be transferred to Germany from ... of undersecretary of state responsible for foreign and security policy, where he has worked since 2019. He has also completed his master’s studies in social sciences.
The President of the Republic of Finland has also chosen foreign affairs adviser Ari Mäki as the Finnish ambassador to Mexico starting September 1, 2023. As of 2019, Mäki held the position of head of the Finnish Embassy in Ankara.
He worked as the unit manager of the Latin American and Caribbean unit between 2015 and 2019. Like the above-mentioned ambassador, Mäki also completed his master’s studies in political science.
The fifth ambassador appointed by the Finnish President and the advisor for foreign affairs is Matti Lassila, who took ... of the head of the Finnish Embassy in Rome, Italy. Until now, he has worked as the Finnish Ambassador in Baghdad. He has also dealt with external energy relations and climate policy as a leading expert in the general unit of EU affairs since 2018. Lassila has a master’s degree in political science.
The last ambassador appointed by President Niinistö is the advisor for foreign affairs, Nina Vaskunlahti, who will take the position of the head of the Finnish Embassy in Vienna, Austria, starting from September 1 of this year. Since 2019, Vaskunlahti has worked as undersecretary of state responsible for external economic relations.
From 2016 to 2019, Vaskunlahti was the head of the mission in New Delhi and the head of the Finnish embassy in Ankara from 2012 to 2016. Vaskunlahti has completed a master’s degree in political science.
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