The Honorary Consuls and the presidential couple.
President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö and Mrs Jenni Haukio welcomed the Honorary Consuls of Finland in the United States and Canada to Kultaranta on Tuesday, 17 June 2014. 23 of the Honorary Consuls were from the United States and 12 from Canada. President Niinistö thanked the Honorary Consuls for their valuable input and underlined the importance of creating and maintaining relationships on all levels of society.
The Honorary Consuls provide a valuable contribution by maintaining good relationships between the countries, promoting Finnish business life and culture, and assisting Finnish citizens. Many of them have personal ties to Finland. Some are first-generation immigrants and Finnish citizens, others are descendants of Finnish immigrants. Many of them are also active members of societies that foster Finnish cultural heritage.
The majority of the Honorary Consuls visiting Kultaranta took part in the previous visit in 2010, meeting with the then Speaker of the Parliament Sauli Niinistö. Mr. Leonard Kopelman, an attorney from Boston, is the most senior of the Honorary Consuls, having held the position since 1975. The longest-serving Honorary Consuls of Finland in Canada is Mrs Judith Romanchuk, an investment banker from Calgary, who has served since 1981 and visited Finland 52 times.