Ambassador of Finland
Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to Thailand H.E. Kristiina Kuvaja-Xanthopoulos
Kristiina joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1999. Since then she has served, for example, as the Director for the Unit of Sectoral Policy, Team Leader for Development Policy, Team Leader for Vietnam and South-East Asia Development Cooperation and as a Deputy Director-General to the Department of Africa and the Middle-East. 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.