The Government appointed four new Directors General at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, 21 December.
Deputy Director General Per-Mikael Engberg at the Protocol Department was appointed Director General for Protocol as from 1 March 2005. He has occupied his present post since February 2003. Engberg joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1974 after which he was posted to Finnish missions in San Francisco, Belgrad, Bonn, Vienna, Ljubljana and as Minister at the Embassy of Finland in Stockholm. At the ministry he has worked with trade issues and has represented Finland in various UN organisations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation.
Director Elina Kalkku, who has been head of the Unit for Security Policy at the Political Department since 2000, was appointed Director General at the Department for the Americas and Asia as from 1 March 2005. Kalkku joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1983 and was posted in Madrid and New York. In 1991-1993 she worked as Special Advisor to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Prior to her present post she was Deputy Permanent Representative of Finland to the Western European Union and Deptuy Head of the Finnish Mission to NATO in Brussels.
Deputy Director General Jorma Korhonen was appointed Director General at the Department for External Economic Relations as from 1 November, 2005. He assumed his present post as Deputy Director General for External Economic Relations in November 2003. Korhonen joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1981 and has worked at Finnish missions in Marseille,Yeddah, Riyadh, Geneva, and most recently in Washington where he served as Minister Counsellor responsible for trade policy. At the Ministry he has held various duties in connection with trade policy and in 200-2003 he was Director for EC's Common Commercial Policy.
Deputy Director General Ritva Koukku-Ronde at the Department for Europe was appointed Director General at the Deparment for Development Policy as from 1 September 2005. Koukku-Ronde joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1985 and was posted in Bonn, Nairobi, the Hague and Berlin where she worked as Deputy Head of Mission until 2003 prior to her present post. At the ministry she has held various posts at the Political Department and the Department for Development Policy where she Director for United Nations Development Issues in 1996-1998.
