New Heads of Mission to Warsaw, Budapest and Shanghai
The President of the Republic appointed today, 17 February, the following heads of mission:
Vilén will move to Warsaw from Hungary, where he has served as the Ambassador of Finland since August 2007. Before joining the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Vilén was a Coalition Party MP in 1999–2007. In 2002–2003, he served in Lipponen’s second Government as the Minister for Foreign Trade. While in Parliament, he was chairman of the Grand Committee and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Vilén has also held various international positions, including membership of the Convention on the Future of the European Union, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Western European Union and the Finnish delegation to the Nordic Council.
Tuominen has served as Head of the Unit for Consular Assistance of the Consular Services in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs since 2007. Before that, he served in the Political Department, Department for External Economic Relations and Legal Department. Tuominen has also served as Adviser to the Secretary of State and held a posting in the Embassy of Finland in Stockholm.
Aspelund has served as Head of the Unit for Europe Information and Civic Information of the Department for Communications and Culture in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs since 2009. She joined the Ministry in 1987 and has worked in the Political Department, Department for External Economic Relations and Department for Development Policy. Aspelund has also served as Adviser to Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Ole Norrback.
In the Diplomatic Service, Aspelund has served in Finland’s Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels, in the Permanent Delegation of Finland to the OECD in Paris, and in the Embassies of Finland in Brussels and Beijing.