Tuula Yrjölä

Thematic expertise: Conflict prevention and crisis management, post-conflict rehabilitation

Regional/country-specific expertise: Eastern Europe, South Caucasus, Central Asia, MENA region

Languages: Finnish, English, French, Swedish, German, Arabic, Tajik

Tuula Yrjölä is Ambassador of Finland to the United Arab Emirates. The Embassy also covers Bahrain. In 2020-2023 she served as Director of Conflict Prevention Centre (CPC) and Deputy Head of OSCE Secretariat. She also served for half year as Officer-in-Charge (Acting Secretary General) of the OSCE in 2020. In 2016-2018  she was Head of OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. With over 30 years of experience in the Finnish diplomatic service, thirteen of that on Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia, including as Director of Unit for the region, her postings include Roving Ambassador to Central Asia, and Ambassador of Finland to Egypt and Sudan. Earlier postings include Kyiv and New York. Before joining the OSCE in 2020 she was Ambassador for Democratic and Effective Societies at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland in Helsinki.

In the OSCE CPC she engaged in both conflict prevention and crisis management in Ukraine and the South Caucasus; supported the OSCE’s mediation and dialogue facilitation in the Western Balkans contexts; and worked to ensure sustainable political and socio-economic development in Central Asia in accordance with the OSCE’s concept of comprehensive security. She actively promotes the WPS agenda and in her current work, closely follows the situation in the Gulf and wider Middle East region.