Ambassador Okko-Pekka Salmimies represents Finland in thirteen Western US states as Consul General of Finland in Los Angeles. Mr. Salmimies is an expert in international trade and economy-related questions. He joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland in 1997. 

Salmimies served as Ambassador and Head of Mission at the Permanent Delegations of Finland to the OECD and to UNESCO in Paris, Ambassador for Team Finland (covering export and investment promotion), Director of Trade Policy, and Director for Civil Society. With the Ministry, he also served as Head of Cabinet and Diplomatic Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Trade, Development and European Affairs and Desk Officer for trade policy and transatlantic relations at the EU Delegation of Finland in Brussels. 

Before his current posting in Los Angeles, Mr. Salmimies was a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki. His research focused on foreign policy issues related to international trade, technology, transatlantic relations, and sustainable development. Salmimies’s most current publications cover issues related to strategic autonomy, the EU’s new trade policy, and the green transition.

Ambassador Salmimies is a career diplomat whose professional work is focused on cross-sectoral and inter administrational issues with a strong interface to research. His positions of responsibility include serving as Secretary-General to the Trade Advisory Board of Covid Crisis (chaired by the Minister for Foreign Trade Mr. Ville Skinnari), Chairman of the OECD Policy Framework for Investment Instrument, and Chairman of the OECD Reflection Group on South Africa. In addition, Salmimies has served as a Member of the Steering Group for a Strategic Circular Economy Program, Bureau Member of OECD Evaluation Committee, Bureau Member of OECD Working Party on Trade, and Representative of Finland in the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.