<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Finland's new ambassador to Spain, Jari Luoto, presented the Copies of his Letters of Credence to the Director General of Protocol, Adrián Martín Couce, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, according to diplomatic sources and the Finnish Embassy itself, which spoke to The Diplomat.</strong></h4> Letters of Credence are official documents signed by the head of state—in this case, the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb—that accredit the ambassador as the diplomatic representative of their country to the receiving state. The presentation of the Copies of Style to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs constitutes a preliminary and formal step before the formal presentation of the Letters of Credence to the King of Spain. Jari Luoto, who assumed his new position on September 1, replacing Sari Rautio (after a four-year term in Madrid), joined the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 2008 and previously served as State Secretary for EU Affairs in the Prime Minister's Office. Previously, he served as Undersecretary of State (2003–2006), Ambassador for Baltic Sea Affairs (2008–2010), Ambassador to Brazil (2010–2014), and Ambassador to Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Holy See (2014–2017). Between 2017 and 2019, he served as Coordinator of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT). From 2019 to 2022, he served as Under-Secretary of State for EU Affairs in the Prime Minister's Office. In December 2023, he was appointed to the Board of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA). His appointment to the Embassy in Spain was officially announced on June 13 in the presence of President Stubb.
