Strategy Director appointed to Ministry for Foreign Affairs

The Government appointed Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Antti Helanterä to serve as Strategy Director at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for a fixed term between 14 October 2024 and 31 July 2029.

Helanterä transfers to the post of Strategy Director from his previous position as Head of Mission at the Embassy of Finland in Moscow. Prior to this, he worked at the Department for Europe as Head of Host Country Secretariat for Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) in 2019–2020. Helanterä has also worked at Finland’s Permanent Representation to the EU, at the Embassy of Finland in Moscow and in the Unit for Policy Planning and Research at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Helanterä joined the Foreign Ministry in 2004. He holds the degree of Licentiate of Philosophy. Helanterä was awarded the Finlandia prize in 2003 with Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen in the category of non-fiction books (Tieto-Finlandia award) for the book “Russia cannot Escape its Geography”.