Ambassador to Ireland, non-resident Ambassadors and Under-Secretary of State for International Trade

The President of the Republic appointed Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Leena Gardemeister to serve as Head of Mission at Finland’s Embassy in Dublin, starting on 1 September 2023. Gardemeister will move to Ireland from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, where she has held the post of Deputy Director General of the Department for International Trade since 2019.

In the Diplomatic Service, she has served as Finland’s Ambassador in Tunis from 2017 to 2019 and as Deputy Head of Mission in London from 2013 to 2017. At the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Gardemeister has served as Director of the Export Control Unit from 2010 to 2013, among other posts.

Gardemeister joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1999. She holds the degree of Master of Social Sciences.

At its session on 10 August, the Government appointed Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Jarno Syrjälä to serve as Under-Secretary of State for International Trade for a fixed term from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2027.

Syrjälä’s most recent post in the Foreign Service was Ambassador in Beijing from 2017 to 2021. Before that, he worked as Director General of the Department for Africa and the Middle East from 2013 to 2017. His career in the Diplomatic Service includes posts in Riyadh, where he served as Head of Mission from 2010 to 2013, and in Berlin, Washington, Ramallah, Tel Aviv and Jakarta.

Syrjälä joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1990. He holds the degree of Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration.

The President of the Republic appointed Ambassador Sinikka Antila, Head of Mission at the Embassy of Finland in Addis Ababa as of 1 September 2023, to serve as a non-resident Ambassador to Djibouti and South Sudan. The President of the Republic also appointed Ambassador Matti Lassila, Head of Mission at Finland’s Embassy in Rome as of 1 September 2023, to serve as a non-resident Ambassador to Malta and San Marino.