Antti Sierla appointed as Under-Secretary of State and Harri Mäki-Reinikka as Ambassador to Syria
The President of the Republic has today 16th May appointed new Under-Secretary of State and Ambassador:
Sierla entered the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1971. At the Ministry, he has served in a number of different positions at the Department of Administrative Affairs, the Departments of Development Cooperation and External Economic Relations and the Political Department, occupying, i.a., the posts of Director and Deputy Director General. He has worked for the Finnish Embassy of Dar es Salaam and served as Minister Counsellor at Finland's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva and the Embassy of Vienna. Sierla has served at Finland's Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels as our country's Representative on the Political and Security Committee of the EU during the period of time 2000-2002, and served as Head of the Finnish Embassy in Belgium and Head of the Finnish Mission to NATO in 2002-2007.
Sierla has also worked for the Secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA in Vienna.
In 2007, Sierla wrote the report "Effects of Finland's possible NATO membership". Currently, he is in charge of making a comprehensive review of the Finnish representation abroad, as part of the Government Programme.
Mäki-Reinikka joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1986. At the Ministry, he has worked for the Political Department, the Departments for External Economic Relations, Administrative Affairs and Europe. Since 2005, he has been serving as Director of the Secretariat for Nordic Cooperation. His post included directing the Finnish Chairmanship of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2007 and chairing the Nordic Committee for Co-Operation. As to working for Finnish missions abroad, Mäki-Reinikka has served in Paris, Alger and London. In London he was, i.a., chairman of the International Coffee Organisation. At Finland's Permanent Mission in Geneva, he served as Minister Counsellor in 2000-2005.