New Roving Ambassadors

The President of the Republic appointed today, 31 August, the following ambassadors:

Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Rauli Suikkanen to serve as Roving Ambassador for Pakistan. Suikkanen will assume his functions on 1 September 2012.

Suikkanen joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1980. He is currently Deputy Director in the Unit for Asia and Oceania of the Ministry’s Department for the Americas and Asia. He has led the Unit for Neighbouring Area Cooperation of the Department for Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the Unit for Action Plans for Central and Eastern Europe of the Department for External Economic Relations. He has also worked in the Department for Development Cooperation. Suikkanen has also a long career representing international organisations: a three-year posting to the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Washington and Geneva, and six years as one of the Alternate Directors and three years as a Senior Advisor in the Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London.

Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Mikko Pyhälä to serve as Roving Ambassador to Antigua and Barbudas, and to Saint Kitts and Nevis

Pyhälä is already Roving Ambassador to the Caribbean and Venezuela and Finland’s Ambassador to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of East Caribbean States (OECS).

Pyhälä joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1972. He has served in the Finnish Embassies in Prague, Mexico, New Delhi and Rome, and as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim in Islamabad. He has also served as the Ambassador of Finland in Lima and in Caracas. In the Ministry, Pyhälä has held various positions in, for example, the Department for Development Cooperation and in the Department for the Americas and Asia. In 1991–95 he worked for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi serving as Chief of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Unit.

Inquiries: Vesa Lehtonen, Chief for Personnel Planning, tel. +358 9 1605 5401