Liisa Maria Talonpoika (born 28 April 1961, Turku, Finland) [1] is a Finnish diplomat, and the country's current Ambassador to Stockholm, Sweden, [2] where she presented her credentials on 16 May 2018. [3] She is the first female to hold this post. [4] [5]
Talonpoika was previously Finland's Ambassador to The Hague in 2013–2015, [1] and has held other overseas diplomatic appointments in Paris and Brussels, as well as working in senior roles at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. [4] [1]
Liisa Talonpoika studied at the Swedish-language Åbo Akademi University in Turku, graduating with a master's degree in Economics in 1986. [1] In addition to her native Finnish, she speaks fluent Swedish, English and French, and has a basic command of Dutch. [1]
The Republic of Estonia gained its independence from the Russian Empire on 24 February 1918 and established diplomatic relations with many countries via membership of the League of Nations. The forcible incorporation of Estonia into the Soviet Union in 1940 was not generally recognised by the international community and the Estonian diplomatic service continued to operate in some countries. Following the restoration of independence from the Soviet Union, Russia was one of the first nations to re-recognize Estonia's independence. Estonia's immediate priority after regaining its independence was the withdrawal of Russian forces from Estonian territory. In August 1994, this was completed. However, relations with Moscow have remained strained primarily because Russia decided not to ratify the border treaty it had signed with Estonia in 1999.
The foreign relations of Finland are the responsibility of the president of Finland, who leads foreign policy in cooperation with the government. Implicitly the government is responsible for internal policy and decision making in the European Union. Within the government, preparative discussions are conducted in the government committee of foreign and security policy, which includes the Prime Minister and at least the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defence, and at most four other ministers as necessary. The committee meets with the President as necessary. Laws concerning foreign relations are discussed in the parliamentary committee of foreign relations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs implements the foreign policy.
Turku is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (Varsinais-Suomi) and the former Turku and Pori Province. The region was originally called Suomi (Finland), which later became the name for the whole country. As of 30 September 2018, the population of Turku was 191,499 making it the sixth largest city in Finland after Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa and Oulu. There were 330,192 inhabitants living in the Turku sub-region, ranking it as the third largest urban area in Finland after the Greater Helsinki area and Tampere sub-region. The city is officially bilingual as 5.2 percent of its population identify Swedish as a mother-tongue.
The Varsinais-Suomi constituency is a Finnish constituency. It covers the administrative region of Southwest Finland, with a population of 450,968. Varsinais-Suomi elects 17 members to the Parliament of Finland.
Anders Arvid Lidén was the Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations from 2004 to 2010. He was President of the UNICEF Executive Board in 2008.
Ralf Johan Gustaf Törngren was a Finnish politician, born in Oulu. He was the party leader of the Swedish People's Party (1945–1955), a member of the Finnish parliament and the Prime Minister of Finland 5 May – 20 October 1954. In the Finnish presidential elections of 1956, he won 20 electoral votes.
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The Embassy of Finland in Stockholm is Finland's diplomatic mission in Sweden. It is located at Gärdesgatan 11 in the district of Gärdet. The current ambassador of Finland to Sweden, since 2018, is Liisa Talonpoika who is also the first female ever to hold this position.
Jarmo Viinanen was a Finnish ambassador to Sweden until 2016, and was President of the UNICEF Executive Board in 2013. In addition to this, Viinanen was, from 1997 until 1998, the First Secretary in the Foreign Ministry's Department of External Trade Relations. From 1998 to 2000, Viinanen was the Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Between 2000 and 2005, Viinanen served as the diplomatic adviser to Tarja Halonen, the 11th President of Finland, the Deputy Secretary General and Deputy Chief of Cabinet, as well as the Secretary-General and Chief of Cabinet to Halonen from 2005–2009. Between 8 April 2009 and 2014 Viinanen held a position as the Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations.
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Helena Sångeland is the Swedish Ambassador to China. Sångeland presented her credentials on May 16, 2019. She had been Ambassador to Iran until she replaced Anna Lindstedt who was recalled to Stockholm.
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