Pertti Salolainen

Pertti Edvard Salolainen (born October 19, 1940) is a Finnish politician who represents the National Coalition Party.

Salolainen was born in Helsinki. He graduated as Master of Science in Economics from the Helsinki School of Economics in 1969. He worked as a journalist in the 1960s.

Salolainen was elected to the Parliament of Finland in 1970. He chaired the Finance Committee of the Parliament from 1979 to 1986. Later he served as the Minister for Foreign Trade of Finland in both Holkeri cabinet and Aho cabinet from 1987 to 1995. In the latter cabinet, Salolainen also served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Finland. In addition, he chaired the Finnish delegation at the negotiations on the EU membership of Finland. He succeeded Ilkka Suominen as the leader of the National Coalition Party in 1991 and led the party until he was succeeded by Sauli Niinistö in 1994.

In 1996, Salolainen left the Parliament when he was appointed Ambassador of Finland to the United Kingdom. His tenure as ambassador ended in 2004 and he was re-elected to the Parliament in 2007. From 2007 to 2011, Salolainen chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament. Since 2011, he has served as the vice chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

In 1989, Salolainen was the first western cabinet minister to visit China after the Tiananmen square massacre.

In 2012, Salolainen said on a television program that the United States cannot take a neutral stance on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict due to the influence of the American Jews. The Simon Wiesenthal Center demanded him to be removed from office because of this comment. Salolainen denied that his comment was anti-Semitist.

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