New Heads of Mission to Canberra and Nicosia

The President of the Republic appointed today, 23 March, the following heads of mission:

Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Pasi Patokallio is to serve as Head of the Embassy of Finland in Canberra, Australia, from 1 January 2013.

As the Special Representative of the Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2009, Patokallio has led Finland’s campaign for a non-permanent seat in the Security Council for 2013-14. Patokallio has served as the Ambassador of Finland in Canada and Israel and held diplomatic service positions also in the Embassies of Finland in Washington and Tokyo and in the Permanent Mission of Finland in Geneva and Finland’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York. In the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, he has served, among other things, as Director for Arms Control and Disarmament and as Deputy Director-General for Multilateral Affairs.

Patokallio joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1974.

Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Anu Saarela is to serve as Head of the Embassy of Finland in Nicosia, Cyprus, from 1 June 2012.

Saarela joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1987. She has worked in the Political Department, the Department for External Economic Relations, the Department for Administrative Affairs, and the Legal Service. Since 2009 Saarela has served as Head of the Unit for Public International Law in the Ministry’s Legal Service. In the diplomatic service, she has worked in Berlin, Lagos, Washington and Stockholm; in Tokyo she held the post of Minister-Counsellor.
 

Inquiries: Pirkko Hämäläinen, Deputy Director General for Personnel, tel. +358 9 1605 5401