NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF FINLAND PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG

Hannu Himanen, the new Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Himanen had been serving as Under-Secretary of State for Administrative, Legal and Protocol Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Helsinki since 2003. From 2002 to 2003, he was Ambassador for Policy Planning and Research at the Ministry. From 2001 to 2002, he served as Vice President for Security and Governance at the EastWest Institute, Prague Center. From 2000 to 2001, he was Deputy Director General for Africa and the Middle East at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

A career diplomat, Mr. Himanen joined the Foreign Service in 1976. He served at the Embassy of Finland in New Delhi from 1979 to 1981; at the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations in New York from 1981 to 1984; at the Embassy of Finland in Moscow from 1986 to 1989; as Counsellor and Deputy Head of Delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna from 1989 to 1991; and as Ambassador of Finland to Indonesia from 1996 to 2000.

Mr. Himanen has an MA in political science from the University of Tampere in Finland (1976). He spent a year from 1995 to 1996 as a Fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.


For use of information media; not an official record

CR08025E