New chief for the Presidential cabinet

The Secretary General and the Chief of Cabinet of the President of the Republic of Finland changes on 1 March 2005.

As a new Secretary General starts Jarmo Viinanen, who has served as Presidents diplomatic adviser since 2000. Before that he worked at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs as adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, first secretary in the Department for External Trade Relations and first secretary at the Finnish embassies in Washington and Tel Aviv.

Päivi Kairamo-Hella has been appointed adviser to the President of the Republic and she also takes up her new post on 1 March 2005. Kairamo-Hella has a law degree and she has worked previously at the European Commission.

Former Secretary General and Chief of Cabinet Jaakko Kalela starts as a senior counsellor at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and will move to Tallinn to be Finland's Ambassador to Estonia on 1 September 2005. Kalela has worked at the Office of the President of the Republic since 1973, first as a special adviser and since 1984 as Chief of Cabinet.