Dear Friends and Supporters,
Officially starting my 10th Year today.
My adventure with Pakistan, a wonderful story that started over 20 years ago, got an official element today on March 7, nine years ago.
President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain and Sartaj Aziz, Special Advisor on Foreign Affairs, signed the Letter of Nomination on February 11, 2016 and as the diplomatic process goes, my role as Hon. Consul General of Pakistan to Finland became official on March 7, 2016 with a signed exequatur by Timo Soini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Starting my 10th year today, I can just say that it has been such a great honor and privilege to be part of the story of Honorary Consuls of Pakistan in Finland, being the 5th one ever since 1950, continuing the outstanding work my predecessor and mentor late Heikki Timonen, who kept the flag up for over three decades.
There are so many people to thank for your endless support and inspiration – can’t list all of you in Pakistan, Finland and beyond, but I know that you know, thank you 🙏
Work goes on, connecting Pakistan and Finland, bridging companies, institutions, organizations and governments together. Last three years have been the busiest ever, there are record-high Pakistani students and professionals living in Finland, also record-high interest from Finnish companies and institutions on Pakistan, and plenty of positive signals on overall development in Pakistan. So while celebrating this official milestone, I would really encourage everyone to look at Pakistan right now. Frankly speaking, I don’t believe there are so many companies, investors, educationists, technology provides, experts in IT, agriculture, mining, energy, water or environmental technologies who could skip a market with 250m people. Wrt. that, please check www.fpbs.fi and looking forward to see you in Pakistan in May.
My targets for this 10th year? To do whatever I can to support an opening of Embassy of Pakistan in Finland. I might be full of endless energy, I even might be pretty good, quick and effective in my role, but super high educated Pakistani community deserves more than me. Furthermore, I will take 1-2 big Finnish corporations more to Pakistan with tens of SMEs from both sides, build long-term deep relations for international research between the top Finnish and Pakistan universities, build continuous bilateral work supporting teachers training and skills training, and finally – build a bridge taking all the smart people together supporting the development of Pakistan.
I can’t do this alone, I do need all of you around me and this wonderful adventure. Let’s do it, for 🇵🇰 🇫🇮
Yours,
Wille Eerola
Hon. Consul General of Pakistan to Finland, Chairman of Finland Pakistan Business Council
