Aapo POLHO

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.