BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR RELATIONS

Ambassador Aníbal Ponce arrived to Helsinki from London in May 10, 1965. He presented his accreditation to the President of the Republic, Mr. Urho Kekkonen, the 21st of  May of that year. He was the first Extraordinary Ambassador of Peru,  holding total empowerment,  who had Helsinki as his place of residence. There were 56 diplomatic representations accredited in the Finnish capital by those days. Thirty one of them had permanent residence. Perú was the fourth Latinamerican country which opened an Embassy in Helsinki. The other three countries that preceded it, were Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.

Two years before, in the month of July, 1963, Ambassador Heikki Hannikainen had arrived to the port of El Callao, boarding the Santa Margarita ship. He came from New York with the purpose of living in Lima. The Finnish Foreign Affairs Ministry in Perú  was provisonally set up in July 8, 1963,  at the Gran Hotel Bolivar. First Secretary Jussi Montonen was also part of it. The same year Finland participated with a stand in the III edition of the International Fair of the Pacific, held in Lima.

However, the relationship between Perú and Finland comes from the twenties, in the last century. The Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a note from Helsinki on July 2, 1920, communicating the decision of Finland of joining the League of the Nations. It expressed the firm conviction that the Government of Perú showed, by acknowledging the independance of Finland,  that it “considers it worthy of living according to its desire, free”. Further on, in October 6, 1926, the President of Perú, Mr. Augusto B. Leguía, appointed Mr. Iivari Alijoki, as Consul of Perú. In 1937 Mr. Alijoki proposed to the Peruvian authorities to promote the Consulate to General Consulate. He suggested the creation of Vice Consulates in Turku, Tampere and the port of Viipuri, which now belongs to Russia. By those days, Finland had a General Consul in Lima and a Vice Consul in the port of El Callao. Mr. Alijoki was appointed as General Consul of Perú, through a Supreme Resolution in May 24 of that year, receiving his accreditation on the month of July, 1937.

In 1963, year in which Ambassador Aníbal Ponce arrived to Helsinki, the General Consul of Perú was Mr. Holger Nordberg. After his death, the same year, Mr. Carl Erick Skogman was in charge of the General Consulate. Both of them held high positions within the staff of the navy company, Nielsen.

LIST OF FINNISH AMBASSADORS ACCREDITATED TO LIMA

LIST OF PERUVIAN AMBASSADORS ACCREDITED TO HELSINKI

For more information, check the page Embajada de Finlandia en Lima