Ms Mari Kiviniemi was appointed Minister of Public Administration and Local Government of Finland on 19 April 2007 and has recently also been designated as EIB Governor for Finland.

Born in 1968, she has been a Member of Parliament since 1995 and has been Deputy Leader of the Centre Party since 2003. She gained her first ministerial post in 2005 as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development and Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office.

In her new capacity as Minister of Public Administration and Local Government, Ms Kiviniemi is responsible at the Ministry of Finance for matters covered by the Public Management Department, the Personnel Department, the Government Information Management Unit, the Financial Markets Department and the EIB and NIB. She also handles matters related to customs, the EU Budget Council and the Government financial controller’s function. At the Ministry of the Interior, she is responsible for issues dealt with by the Department for Municipal Affairs and the Regional and Local Administration Unit.

Ms Kiviniemi is a member of the Cabinet Finance Committee and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy. She is also in a number of Ministerial Working Groups, viz. those on public administration and regional development, on socio political issues, on social services and on better regulation, as well as the Policy Programme Ministerial Groups for employment, entrepreneurship and worklife and for the well being of children, youth and families. She is also a member of the Economic Council of Finland.

She has been on the Supervisory Boards of the Ilkka-Yhtymä Group, Lännen Tehtaat Oyj, Alko, Leonia and the VR Group, and has also served on the Board of the Save the Children Fund. She was a Member (2004-2005) and subsequently Chair (2006-2007) of the Parliamentary Supervisory Council of the Bank of Finland, has sat on a number of Parliamentary committees, including those for commerce and for foreign affairs, and has acted as Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on economic policy.