Ambassador Pasi-Heikki Vaaranmaa took up his duties as Permanent Representative of Finland to the OECD on 21 February 2023.

Mr. Vaaranmaa started his diplomatic career as Attaché in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1997 before taking his first position abroad in 1998 as Second Secretary at the Embassy of Finland to the Syrian Arab Republic. In 2000, he joined the Permanent Mission of Finland to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as First Secretary before going back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Adviser at the Trade Policy Department in 2004.

In 2007, Mr. Vaaranmaa was appointed Director of the Personnel Unit in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2009 to 2016, he worked for Finland in several International Organisations, first as Deputy Permanent Representative to the WTO and other international organizations in Geneva (2009-2012), and then as Deputy Permanent Representative to the OECD in Paris (2012-2016).

He was then assigned to take part in the preparation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ centenary celebrations until his nomination as Director of the Trade Policy Unit (Department for International Trade) in 2017. In that capacity, he was responsible for the overall coordination with regard to the OECD affairs, and from 2022 worked as the representative of Finland to the Trade Committee at the OECD.

Mr. Vaaranmaa has a MA (History, International Politics, Economics) from the University of Tampere in Finland. He speaks Finnish, Swedish, English, French, German. He is married and has four children.