Aapo POLHO, Deputy Facilitator, The 2012 Conference on the Establishment of a Zone Free of Nuclear and All Other Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East; Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland
Senior
diplomat with 35 years of service. Extensive experience in arms control and
disarmament as well as in Middle East issues.
As the Finnish observer to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva he participated intensively in the
culminating years of the CWC negotiations from 1989 until its adoption in
September 1992. As the Director of the
Security Policy Division (1992-94) and later as the Deputy Political Director
(2002-2004) he was in charge of the Arms control, Disarmament and Export
Control Regimes related activities in the MFA in Helsinki. He has lived and worked for 6 years
in the Middle East, 1979-81 and 1998-2002, and worked with Middle
East issues in the MFA 2004-07. He also directed Finnish bilateral
development programmes in Africa 2004-07. From
2007 to 2011 he was an Ambassador of Finland to Belgium
and Head of Mission to NATO, Brussels.
From September 2011 he is Ambassador, Political Department, MFA and Personal
Deputy to the Facilitator for the 2012 Conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other
weapons of mass destruction. He has participated in several Review Conferences
of different arms control treaties. He has led several European Union (during
Finnish Presidency 2006) and bilateral delegations in consultations and
negotiations.
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