New Deputy Director General for Department for Africa and the Middle East
At its session on 16 February, the Government appointed a new Deputy Director General for the Department for Africa and the Middle East.
Deputy Director General, Department for Africa and the Middle East
The Government appointed Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury to serve as Deputy Director General of the Department for Africa and the Middle East at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The appointment is for a fixed term between 20 February 2023 and 31 August 2027.
Suomela-Chowdhury will transfer to the post of Deputy Director General from the Unit for Southern and Western Africa, where she is currently Director of Unit. Before that, she served as Finland’s Ambassador to Zambia from 2018 to 2022 and to Nigeria from 2014 to 2018. Suomela-Chowdhury has also served as Director of the Unit for UN Development Issues, among other duties at the Foreign Ministry.
Suomela-Chowdhury joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1997. She holds the degree of Master of Social Sciences.
Inquiries
- Kirsti Pohjankukka, Deputy Director General for Human Resources, tel. +358 29 535 0038
- The email addresses of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are in the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.