Alec Mikael Aalto (24 September 1942 – 24 December 2018) was a Finnish diplomat. In the

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The enti ...

, he started in 1979 and served as Finland's Ambassador in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

(1991–1995),

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

(2003–2006) and Sweden in 2006–2010 until his retirement.

Education

Aalto was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, and studied at Svenska normallyceum before graduating as a bachelor of law in 1967 from the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

. Between 1968 and 1970, he studied

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Career

Between 1970 and 1972, Aalto worked as a journalist for

Finnish Broadcasting Company Yleisradio Oy ( Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, foun ...

, after which he was from 1973 to 1975 Head of Information department in the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

. He also served as the Head of Press Affairs in the European Security and Cooperation Conference. In Aalto was in 1975 in the Prime Minister Keijo Liinama's caretaker cabinet as Prime Minister's secretary and from 1976 to 1978, the information director of Neste Oy. Aalto joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1979. Until 1984, he served as the Head of the Ministry's Press and Culture Center, in 1985 as the Negotiating Officer of the Trade Policy Department and in 1986-1991 as Deputy Director of the Department of Trade Policy.

Work as ambassador

In 1991, Aalto started as an Ambassador in

while acting as a Permanent Representative of Finland in the UN organizations in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and was accredited also in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

. Between 1995 and 1997, Aalto worked as Prime Minister's Special Assistant in the Council of the State in international affairs. In 1997–2003 he was State Secretary for European Affairs and in 2000–2003 also Head of the EU Secretariat of the Council of State. Between 2003 and 2006, Aalto was Finland's Ambassador in

, accredited to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

. In June 2006, he started his last ward as Ambassador in Sweden. Aalto retired in February in 2010.

Personal life

Aalto's parents were actress Märta Laurent and Commercial Counselor Arvo Mikael Aalto. He was bilingual. He had a wife and daughter. Aalto performed music and enjoyed the countryside, in the archipelago and in Lapland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aalto, Alec Permanent Representatives of Finland to the United Nations Ambassadors of Finland to Italy Ambassadors of Finland to Austria Ambassadors of Finland to Slovenia Ambassadors of Finland to Malta Ambassadors of Finland to San Marino Ambassadors of Finland to Sweden 1942 births 20th-century Finnish journalists Diplomats from Helsinki 2018 deaths Journalists from Helsinki