New Ambassadors to Tallinn and Kabul

The President of the Republic appointed on the 30 April the following persons as Ambassadors:

Aleksi HärkönenCounsellor of Foreign Affairs Aleksi Härkönen to serve as Head of the Finnish Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia, as from 1 September 2010.

Aleksi Härkönen has served at the Office of the President of the Republic of Finland as Adviser to the President since 2009.

Härkönen entered the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1980. Prior to his current position, he worked as Head of the Finnish OSCE Chairmanship Task Force in 2007-09. In the ministry, he has also worked in the Political Department, where he served as Director of the Security Policy Unit in 1998-2000 and as Deputy Director General of the Security Policy and Arms Control Division in 2000-02. Härkönen was Finland's Permanent Representative to the OSCE in Vienna in 2002-07 and has also worked at the Finnish Embassies in Caracas, Bonn and Washington. Härkönen was Special Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1995-97.

Pauli JärvenpääDirector General Pauli Järvenpää, DSSc, to serve as Head of the Finnish Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, as from 1 September 2010.

Pauli Järvenpää has served as Director General of the Defence Policy Department at the Ministry of Defence since 2002. Järvenpää will be appointed Counsellor of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs as from 1 August 2010.

Järvenpää has worked for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs at the Mission of Finland to NATO in Brussels in 1999-2002. In 1991-94, he served as Minister-Counsellor at the Finnish Embassy in Washington. During his long career in the Ministry of Defence, he has served, for example, as Deputy Director General of the Defence Policy Department in 1994-99 and as Special Adviser in the Department of Military Affairs in 1983-91. In addition, Järvenpää has worked as Senior Researcher in the Finnish Defence Forces.