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The Embassy of Finland in Berlin |
The Ambassador
Amb. Kai Sauer
Kai Sauer has been the Ambassador of Finland to Germany since September 1, 2023.
Since 2019, he has served as the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.
From 2014 to 2019, he led Finland's Permanent Representation to the United Nations in New York. From 2010 to 2014, he was the Ambassador of Finland to Indonesia, East Timor, and ASEAN. Mr. Sauer has nearly 25 years of service in Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs and has also held positions in Croatia, Kosovo, Austria, and the USA. Additionally, he held several senior UN positions.
Kai Sauer was born in 1967 in Hamburg, possesses a Master's degree in International Relations from the University of Tampere, and studied in Hamburg and Berlin.
In 2019, the President of Finland awarded him the Commander's Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland. His military rank is reserve officer, and he holds an honorary doctorate from Northland College, Wisconsin, USA.
Mr. Sauer has been/is the chairman of the board for several Finnish and international organizations: VERIFIN (2019–2023), the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, and the European Institute of Peace (2023–). Moreover, Kai Sauer serves on the board of the Finnish NGO Crisis Management Initiative (2019–) and on the ECFR (2023–) and is an advisory board member of the NGO The Reckoning Project (2023–).
Mr. Sauer is married and has two adult children. He is an active ice hockey player and marathon runner in his free time.
History
Germany recognised the independence of Finland in 1918 and ever since Germany and Finland have had a good diplomatic relationship. The Finnish consulate is located in 12 different addresses in Berlin. Before establishing the actual embassy, the consulate worked in a couple of offices in Berlin.
During the cold war, Finland formed a diplomatic cooperation with the German Democratic Republic in 1973. And after the unification of the Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic in 1990, the Finnish consulate moved from Bonn to Berlin.
The present embassy building is located in Tiergarten. The Finnish Embassy has a unique partnership with other four Nordic countries, as they together form the Nordic Embassies complex. The embassies share together the similar architecture style and a cultural house, Felleshus that is used together by all embassies for cultural activities, exhibitions and conferences.
