New Ambassadors to Nigeria, to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan
The President of the Republic appointed today, 8 August, the following Ambassadors:
At the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Vuorinen has occupied the post of Director General of the Department for Global Affairs since 2007, having served as Deputy Director General of the Department from 2005 to 2007. Vuorinen, who had joined the Ministry in 1985, has also served at the Political Department and the Department for International Development Cooperation. Among other things, Vuorinen has held the positions of Director of the Unit for Humanitarian Assistance and Director of the Unit for Economic and Social Development.
Vuorinen has twice been nominated for a post at Finland's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, and has also held a post at the Finnish Embassy of South Korea. She has served as Secretary of International Affairs at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and occupied positions in education and public relations.
Presently, Lahelma is serving as Finland's Ambassador in Vilnius, Lithuania where he has been posted since 2004. He joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1972, and had served earlier, among other things, at the Consulate General in Leningrad. In the service of the Ministry, he has worked for the Legal Department, served as the representative to the OSCE in matters related to the Russian minority in Estonia, held the post of Vice-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group which dealt with the question of Nagorno-Karabakh and served as a Consulting Counsellor performing duties involving human rights issues in the Baltic States and the Balkans.
From 2001 to 2004, Lahelma occupied the post of Roving Ambassador for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.