Kirsti Kauppi appointed to serve as Director General of the Political Department in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Press release 65/2012
22 March 2012

On 22 March the Government decided to appoint Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Kirsti Kauppi as Director General of the Political Department for a temporary period of time from 1 April 2012 to 31 August 2016.

Kauppi will transfer to the Political Department from the Department for Africa and the Middle East, which she has led since 2009. Kauppi has worked in the Political Department also earlier, among other things as Director of the Unit of European Correspondence and in the Department for Development Cooperation.

In the diplomatic service, Kauppi’s most recent posting took her to Vienna, where she served as the Ambassador of Finland and Finland's Permanent Representative to the IAEA and the UN organisations from 2005 to 2009. Kauppi’s diplomatic career includes also positions in the Embassy of Finland in Bangkok, Finland's Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels, and the Embassies of Finland in Washington and Berlin, where she served as Minister.

Kauppi joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1983.

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