Ambassador of Finland
Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to Thailand and Cambodia H.E. Kristiina Kuvaja-Xanthopoulos
Kristiina joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1999. Since then she has served, for example, as the Deputy Director-General to the Department of Africa and the Middle-East, Director for the Unit of Sectoral Policy, Team Leader for Development Policy, Team Leader for Vietnam and South-East Asia Development Cooperation. She was seconded as a National Expert to the European Commission DG DEVCO during 2010-12. Kristiina has served at the Finnish Embassies in the Philippines and Greece as a Deputy Head of Mission and in Bulgaria as a Ambassador.
Throughout her career Kristiina has had great interest in issues related to sustainable development and she has served as a Board Member of the United National University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNUWIDER) 2014-2020, as a Board Member of Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund) 2016-2020, and the Chairman of the Board of Uongozi Institute in Tanzania 2018-2020.
Kristiina holds a doctorate in social sciences from the University of Jyväskylä. She enjoys travelling and art in its all forms and is an eternal student of Greek language and running.