Finnish Ambassador Jyri Järviaho on Diplomatic History, Economic Trade & Vodka [S6.E5]

Greg interviews Jyri Järviaho, Finland's
Ambassador to Thailand. Although Greg makes a valiant attempt at
pronouncing the Ambassador's name, the two begin by discussing
the difficulty of Finnish, with the Ambassador explaining that it
is a unique language that it is completely different from its
neighbors, especially its western ones, such as Germany and
Sweden. Next, the Ambassador recounts his diplomatic journey from
a small village in Finland to university and later to a job with
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and eventually various diplomatic
postings around Europe and central Asia. Suffice it to say, he's
happy to be in the warm weather of Thailand.


The Ambassador next tells the fascinating story of Thailand
and Finland's first diplomatic contact. Finland's first
ambassador to Asia was on a trip to establish relations with
Japan when he received a telegram in Singapore indicating that
the country of Siam had recognized Finland as it had recently
declared independence from Russia. The intrepid ambassador then
re-routed to Bangkok and managed to make the first diplomatic
contact with a representative of the Thai
government. 


The two men continue by discussing the rest of the
diplomatic relations between the two countries, the trade in both
goods and services, and the struggle by the Finnish Embassy to
establish a unique identity in the eyes of the Thai
people. 


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